Memoirs of an Imagination- The first chronicle
by Queen Of The Chens
Summary: Fan-fiction of the game conflict-Vietnam and slightly of the Crash Bandicoot games. Princess Lessa, a young teen stuck in the world of humans; is forced to face up to her destiny and defeat the evil queen of darkness, Marissa. Along the way she befriends a marine squad, and falls in love with soldier Cherry, changing her views on everything. (Part of a seven book series)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One- A dream

_"**Everything you can imagine is real"**_

_**-Pablo Picasso**_

The air was heavy with fog, surrounding me with clingy mist. My footsteps echoed of the pavement as i headed towards the road that i could not see. I'm not sure where i'm going; but i knew that one way or another, another minute spent with those earthlings i am forced to call family; would kill me.

The clouds rumbled overhead and a sigh pushed itself out of my chest. Great, i'm going to get rained on. I forced myself on and a dip in ground indicated i was now standing on the edge of the road. Still nothing could be seen, nor could any cars be heard. I stepped forward regardless, absentmindedly wondering if the earthlings would care if i was to be hurt.

Unlike other earthling kids i was much less accident-prone and serious injury had always avoided me. I guess that's a good thing. A quiet roaring in the distance suddenly appeared to my sense's and i stopped, trying to gauge how far away it was. I craned my head and squinted my eyes to the left side of the road, its stupid i know; I'm almost asking to be hit by a car. A tight feeling clenched in my lower stomach and my eyes caught a glint of metal. That was all i saw before i felt the impact. A smash to my head and all went dark. Somewhere i heard the whispers of voices, but murky darkness pulled my mind away before i could decipher them.

_"Lessa!" _the voice burst through the depths of the darkness i was confined to. I attempted to stir my body.

_"Lessa!" _the voice was now many decibels louder. My eyes sprang open and i looked around. I was in a room that i recognized. Dull brown wallpaper, the very same wallpaper i had had to wake up to for the past ten years of my life. That could only mean i was home in my bedroom; i guess that car had just been a dream. The tight feeling in my lower stomach returned. It had seemed so real.

_"Lessa!" _i couldn't ignore the voice any longer and lifted my head to meet the gaze of the floating goddess above me. I guess i should explain. Her name is Shiva, goddess of ice. She's also my spirit guide; i have yet to figure out what for though. She isn't exactly the most helpful person, she's normally only ever around when she wants to have an argument over something petty. Like last week, it was over the food i ate.

Anyway i'm getting off track. Like i said, she's my spirit guide who has watched over me my entire life. The entirety of which has only been 16 years. I call her Melanie-Rose. Its much simpler to explain why i'm talking out loud to someone who isn't there when the earthlings wonder who i'm talking to. I use the excuse (mainly to the ones i call my parents) that i'm talking to my school friend Melanie-Rose on the phone. A friend who it just so happens no one has ever met before but it swings well enough. The name is earthling sounding and it stuck for me. Referring to her as Shiva makes me feel inadequate since it signifies her higher status. After all, no one wants to feel even more small than they have to when in the presence of a goddess.

_"Yes Mel?" _Melanie frowned at me and lowered herself to ground level.

_"Are you okay_?_" _i pondered that one. Was i really okay? that dream had shaken me up a bit and my head had begun to throb.

_"I think so" _without thinking i cupped my hand on my forehead, wincing as it throbbed again. She noticed and her expression softened a little. She turned towards one of the many shelves and pulled down a pack of paracetamol. She pulled out two of the miniature tablets and handed them to me. I swallowed them with distaste as she watched me.

_"How did you know about my head?" _i asked curiously swallowing the foul taste of crappy paracetamol. She sighed and it was then i finally realized the house was devoid of earthlings. That being the only way for Melanie to show herself in spirit form to me. The clock showed it was 4pm, even more reason for me to question why there were no earthlings here.

_"Also, where the hell is everyone?"_

_"Their gone" _her expression became unreadable.

_"Gone where?" _not that i cared much. I hated those earthlings, they were always treating me like a freak. They unconsciously sensed i was different in my aura. If only they knew the half of it.

_"Just gone Lessa, you know what that means" _Now i was curious. Surely she didn't mean it was time?

_"Yes Lessa, The prophecy. Its time to fulfill your destiny"_

_"And to get your revenge" _she muttered. I nodded. I agreed with the revenge part at least. I want payback for what that woman did to me, or should i say, what her bodyguard did to me. However the prophecy was something else. I knew it so well i probably recited it in my sleep.

I was the forsaken chosen one. The prophecy child of the universe as Mel liked to call me. It was the legend of the long dead princess Lessa of a planet called Egyptica.

Egyptica from what Melanie has told me, is a planet that reflects the life of ancient Egypt on earth. To a certain extent that is. The ancient Egyptians moved on to be islamics and lost all their magick, but the Egypticans still have magick to this very day. I just happen to be that princess. In an event of injustice ( but typical of earthling ancient Egypt, or maybe just the earthling nature in general) i was mummified alive by Marissa's bodyguard.

Ugh, just saying her name makes my body shudder. Marissa herself was typical of earthling nature. She was one of the palace guard's daughter and was incredibly jealous of me and my family. She believed that it was her job to rule and that she should be princess, not me. So she killed me on my coronation day. Such is the joys of life. Anyway as it was, my father realized it was her fault i and many others (more about that another time) were dead. So he had her executed and banished to the depths of the spirit escaped by taking a human host and is now attempting to take over Egyptica least so i hear. I was reborn through an earthling woman.

The legend said i would be reborn and rule over Egyptica once again. Obviously i was reborn, and i've been waiting the past sixteen years to rule over Egyptica again. Only thing standing in my way; Marissa. Only thing standing in her way; Me. I want revenge, the ruling part doesn't bother me at all. I couldn't care less for ruling a planet, just making her feel pain like she made me. That alone is enough to give me purpose. So i guess it's time, finally. I've waited so long. The tight feeling is long gone and the feeling of thrilling anticipation has replaced it.

_"I'm ready" _i told her. She assessed me critically.

_"Okay, lets go"_ thoughts of everything else flew out of the window. They were all non-abysmal things anyway. Who cares what your wearing when your off to kill your sworn enemy, although maybe i need some weapons. I know just the place.

I raced down the stairs and through the open door with Mel hot on my heels. My stepfather's car sat waiting outside. It was an invitation i wasn't about to decline. I barely paused to fling open the car door and slid in the drivers seat before a second had passed. Mel just glided through the car itself and sprawled out on the back seat expectantly. I didn't have the keys, but i didn't need them.

_"Isn't it bad that a girl your age knows how to hot-wire a car?" _Mel grinned.

_"Well Melanie, i'm not your average girl" _After ripping open the compartment behind the ignition and finding two wires sticking out from use already, i pushed them together with bare hesitation. The car rumbled appreciatively and returning her grin; i slammed my foot down. My journey had begun.


	2. Chapter 2- Inflitrating the Base

_Chapter Two- Infiltrating the base_

The area surrounding the base was vast and silent. The only movements being of the gentle breeze tugging on the blades of grass in this desolate ground. I raised my heckler and koch Mk 23 and fired two singular shots at the two semi-invisible guards flanking the rear of the base. The breeze gave the bullets an increase of speed and the sound of speed became the whisper of their death. They dropped dead within moments and the whole situation seemed surreal to me. Made worse by the thrill i received when taking the lives of others. I had spent far too much time cooped up with those earthlings, it was time to break free. Another sideways glance told me it was all clear and i could move towards my target once again. I edged forward in my stance of crouching and the barbed wire loomed up at me.

_"Lessa" _she whispered my name, the word floating on the breeze.

_"Yes Melanie?" i_ turned and faced her, pointing my gun downwards. Not that it could hurt her if i fired anyway.

_"Your brother awaits you inside" _i narrowed my eyes. My brother..he is nothing but a pawn in her game to dominate. No.. i must not feel sorry for him. Part of this is his fault. Melanie wordlessly swiped her hand and the barbed wire before us dissipated.

_"I could have scaled the wire you know"_

_"Lessa, it was no trouble. You still have not replied about your brother" _my grip tightened and blood rushed to my palms.

_"He means nothing to me, and he is not a factor in this mission. That is unless; he is the only way to obtain the required information. Hopefully it will not come to that"_

_"Very well, you remember what you are looking for?"_

_"Yes" _of course i do. After all, how could i not. Ever since i had hot-wired my stepfather's car and left behind the place i had been forced to call home, Melanie had sensed a powerful evil residing in another realm. We had no idea whether it was Marissa or not but it couldn't hurt to check it out. Only problem is, how do we get to another realm? Well i'd thought long and hard about it and that's when i remembered my brother. Well was anyway. Another one of the fragmentation's of my past to remember. Certainly not one i held dear to my heart. He was my brother Set, the god of chaos back in the times of when i was princess. He wasn't around for long; he died at the tender age of 11. But being the devious witch Marissa is, she resurrected him so she could continue to use him as a puppet. He is her lapdog and the thought alone makes me want to smash his skull in. I sigh softly and Melanie stands patiently letting me gather my thoughts. He like Marissa must know the way to travel between realms, and that's what i'm here to find out. God knows i hope i don't run into him, there's no telling what will happen then; for good or for bad.

_"Alright, its time to commence operation, infiltration" _i replaced the magazine and stepped through the remnants of what was a barbed fence. Melanie followed close behind.

_"Original name you got there Lessa" _Despite my anxiety i smiled briefly. The base itself was comprised of one small checkpoint; situated at the front of the entrance gate, and a 50 floor skyscraper towering high above us. I had done my research ( naturally i just happened to know how to hack, the skills you learn from earthlings these days) and the master computer belonging to my beloved brother was placed on the 50th floor. That if anything, was most likely the only computer to contain the information i needed.

_"I hope there's an elevator" _i murmured, looking at the height with distaste.

_"Would it kill you to walk?" _Melanie said snarkily. My smile disappeared. She did love to kill a moment.

_"It's alright for you, you can just float up there" _i replied angrily. She raised her hands defensively. I sighed exasperatedly. What is it with delinquent goddess's these days; its like she's the teenager, not me. I stalked through the door of the skyscraper contemptuously.

Without warning guards skidded around the corner of the corridor ahead and opened fire upon me. I estimated there was 10 of them; all were useless with their AK-47's. The bullets rained down on me but i remained unfazed. With a simple flick of my hand they all sped back towards their owners. I didn't even need to lift my firearm, they dropped their guns and their bodies fell with a crash onto the ceramic flooring. Only one remained conscious, breathing heavily and clutching his leg. I walked forward slowly, letting each footstep echo his doom. I had no mercy. Lowering to his level of position, i grabbed hold of his collar and slammed him against the nearest wall.

_"P-please d-don't hu..hurt me!" _he whimpered. I watched him with disgust.

_"H-have mercy!" _i smirked at him and rejoiced inwardly at the terror in his eyes. Somewhere in the dark recesses of my heart i enjoyed his pain. I have only my upbringing to thank for that.

_"..i have no mercy" _it was the finality of my words that ended him. He slumped lifeless in my arms. A shame really, that was no fun at all.

_"Lessa! you were supposed to ask him where the elevator was" _Melanie tutted disapprovingly. I laughed and pointed to the panel beside us.

_"I don't need to, its right here" _she looked with surprise.

_"oh, very well then.. lets go" _taking my hand, she tugged me firmly into the elevator and once i stood ground she jabbed the highest button there was; setting us course for the 50th floor. The master computer...i wonder how complex its security system is. The elevator doors slammed shut and my stomach jolted as it flew upwards. At each passing floor it would make a ding sound, similar to one of a doorbell. Minutes passed and still we were only passing the 23rd floor. I took the time to take in the surroundings of the enclosed space. The elevator itself was small, you would be hard-pressed to fit 5 people in it. However the quality of it was astounding, its shiny, glistening metal indicated it was of high technology; the very best their was to offer. Much more advanced than the current earthling tech at present. I pressed my hand to the panel beside me, and blinked at its refreshing coolness.

_"Lessa- we're here" _

_"Huh?" _i dropped my hand instantly, ashamed to be caught so vulnerable in my thoughts. I must focus on the task at hand. There was a crackle of a tanoy and i waited impatiently for the doors to slide open.

_"You are now at the 50th floor of Set Base 5, this floor contains Sets office and living compartments of employees. Welcome" _Melanie's eyes widened.

_"Oh dear, it seems your brother is likely to be here"_

_"Yes, most likely skulking down some corridor if he is anything like he was on Egyptica" _Another brief memory etched onto my retina; of all the times he would scare me by stepping from the shadows of the palace. Back then i was so little, my big brother always did his best to scare me; simply because he was older. So typical of earthlings today, i hate to admit it but maybe we're not as different as i thought..No! i am nothing like them!

_"Lessa!" _Melanie herself was increasingly growing impatient. I noticed the doors were now wide open, introducing the equally glistening maze of corridors.

_"Ugh lets just do this" i_ pulled out my second mk23 and rested both of them on my hips with minimal grip. I was calm..but also expectant of anything.

_"Where to?" _she asked. I pondered the maze and then faced the 5th entrance of corridors. Down and around the right corner if my memory served me correctly.

_"That way" _i guestured, making for the entrance with her close behind. As we walked, the thought occured to me; that this was the longest time Melanie had ever been in spirit form with me. I felt a tinge of honour, after all she was a goddess. The corridor stretched on but finally the door was in sight. Screw walking, its time to make an entrance. We barreled through the door and were greeted by more of the suited soldiers, grunting and gasping as they placed all effort into their AK's.

_"Tehe, so fruit..less" _i licked my lips tastefully and smiled playfully. Maybe more of a challenge would arise out of this one. I cocked my head as one backed away, dropping his gun as he went. I wondered why they still used AK's if they were so high tech. Maybe set liked his soldiers to die so easily. Ohh sweet, sweet fear and such bitter revenge.

_"Revenge.." _i called softly and laid waste to their bodies with my guns in a rush of speed. It was like a fast tempo dance. A trigger here, a trigger there

_"A TRIGGER EVERYWHERE!" _

_"AHH"_

_"PLEASE STOP!"_

_"THE PAAAIN!" _so beautiful.. i almost loved them for this thrill.

_"What have you become my daughter.." _

_"Revenge is what i have become" _it was over too soon, their fragile bodies littering the now blood-stained floor. Oh well. I stepped lithely between the wasted bodies and as i reached the desk, a laptop became visible. Sat plain in view on the mahogany desk.

_ "This must be the master computer" _Melanie whispered from behind. Finally. I closed the remaining distance and swiped my palm along the laptop's outer case. Something else made of that glistening metal; its texture now embedded in my brain.

_"Time to put my hacking skills to use" _a hint of a smile crossed Melanie's face.

_"I don't think so" _a voice answered silkily from behind. I swung around, only to be face to face with..him.

_"Brother" _i barely contained my rage in voice.

_"Sister" _he replied, his tone still silky. My fists clenched and unclenched with revered hate. He looked human enough as he stepped gracefully from the shadows, but that didn't mean he was.

_"I'm not here to fight you, i just want to talk"_

_"Talk..?"_

_"Yes Lessa" _what could he possibly have to say to me.

_"It could be a trap Lessa" _Melanie's words clinched it. the word trap enticed me..if it was a trap then fun could be had.

_"Very well set, lets talk"_

A good few hours later, we were still sat at that very same mahogany desk, the laptop generously removed by one of his many assistants. It was surprising really but over these few hours we had done nothing but talk, it wasnt even awkward talk. It was nice to finally talk to someone at my own age. Well almost, he was a couple years older than me from what he mentioned. Just like in the old days. We'd had a lot of catching up to do. Did i trust him? no, i dont trust anyone. Perhaps not even melanie had my full trust. He was still evil, it was blantant in the fact he was still marissa's lapdog, but she wasnt here and i was. Brother and sister. A poem from my childhood breezed through my mind. My conscious made a clutch for it, it was successful. I remembered now, the queen, my mother; she used to recite it to me before i went to sleep.

_'Bad will always sin, and love will always win,_

_that's the way its always been' _

Well maybe. Doubtful though. He didn't like to mention Marissa's name much though, it was like it was a taboo. We'd had a lot to drink too, probably too much considering i didn't trust him. The wine was excellent vintage, impossible to refuse.

_'Lessa?" _his voice broke through yet another daydream.

_"Yes?" _his mouth turned up in a lazy smile, it was almost..sexy. Ugh what am i thinking, he's my brother for crying out loud. Melanie would snort in disgust if she could here what i was thinking right now, actually Melanie would probably care to point out the fact he isn't really my brother. Oh heavens, why am i thinking such carnal thoughts.

_"I was thinking, how about you stay the night. its dark out and unsafe" _it was my turn to smile lazily.

_"Since when did you start to care about my health" _he flicked his tongue over his half-full lips, rosy red from his habit of sucking on them. That too made me flush_. _

_"Well..how could i not" _fuck, even that sentence sounded hot. His voice was much lower from the amount of drink he had had and a frisson of sexual tension lay between us. Melanie sulked in the corner but it was obvious from her poker-rod stance that she too also noted the change of atmosphere.

_"I think your getting me drunk for a reason set" _i pressed my elbows onto the table and leaned forward across the table, my chest barely brushing past the table flick of the tongue.

_"Well maybe i am.." _he too could play at my game and leaned across the table too, nose to nose and elbow to elbow. Maybe it was from the drink,or maybe from curiosity of what sex was really like; but something ignited in my body at his touch. I knew then, that by the dawn of morning; i would no longer be a virgin.


	3. Chapter 3- Marissa's Army

_Chapter 3- Marissa's Army_

The sunlight that burst through the lids of my eyes was what woke me up. I was unsure of where i was as i attempted to gather my sense's. The sunlight wasn't helping and i winced as my head pounded painfully. Where was i? My eyesight returned after a few moments and i noticed i was wrapped up in beautifully patterned sheets. Balling my hands within the material, i was overcome with strange feelings i had never felt before. They made my stomach feel floaty and i had the urge to hug something; that was until i turned over and saw him. Set lay innocently sleeping beside me, his lips parted slightly. He had one hand reaching out and the other beneath his head. He seemed so peacefully, no trace of pain to pinch his flawless face. I felt a twinge of anger as i realized what must have happened last night; i felt so used since i couldn't even remember the sex. Well at least my mind couldn't, my body sure could. Oh, i cant wake him now, it would be cruel to disturb the only peace he has.

_"Since when did you care about how someone feels?" _Melanie stood arms folded, leaning against the blood red wall. She's right, i never have cared. Not since Melanie confirmed my beliefs that i didn't belong to earth.

_"I don't, now if you'll excuse me i'm going to search for the kitchen" _i gritted my teeth, i was determined not to show that i cared. I stalked past her as she watched me with hooded amusement. the door led into another maze of corridors and on a purely wild guess i assumed the kitchen to be to the left of this floor.

_"Its on the right" _she called after me, and i seethed silently as i changed direction. Damn her and her ability to read my mind at will. I hugged my arms to my waist and strained hard as i struggled to remember the events of last night. Well.. i could remember the talking, and his promise to give the information i needed, and then.. the sexual tension as he slammed his desk across the room and pinned me to the wall with his waist. After that it went all fuzzy. I can't believe i couldn't even remember losing my own virginity. The humans always said stuff like that was supposed to be memorable; i guess they were wrong.. again.

At least i've finally found the kitchen. The kitchen, just like everything else i had seen so far; was impeccably designed. Shining cupboards and a giant sized fridge made up most of the kitchen. The rest was filled with a long red table and many seats situated in the center of the room. Sadly i noticed the seats were spotless; probably half of them were never filled. I made for the broad fridge in search of some juice or something, my throat was parched from the hardness of wine. I tugged it open, only to be dazzled by its seemingly infinite contents. Rows and rows of food and drinks, most of which i had never seen before in my life. Who knew that evil always had the best stuff. After an inner debate with myself, i decided on some non-branded apple juice and a hulk of cheese.

_"Good morning Lessa" _set said suddenly from behind, startling me from drinking. I didn't turn around, my face burning from the embarrassment of being caught in his kitchen; taking his food and drink. I heard the soft padding as he came further into the kitchen, until he stood behind me; his breath tickling the nape of my neck as his breathing was labored. My angry returned in full rage mode and i swung around defiantly, throwing him away from me. He hit the other side of the kitchen; causing minimal damage to the used to be impeccable units that were there.

_"Ow!" _he sat up gingerly nursing his head. "_Lessa, was that really necessary_?" i clenched my fists until my veins became prominent.

_"Yes..YES IT WAS!" _i screamed at him, not bothering to be concerned with a startled maid scurrying from the back of the kitchen. i took two steps forward, my rage inevitably displayed on my face. He pushed his hands onto the tiles; forcing himself up to standing, and then stepped forward hesitantly.

_"Lessa, whats wrong now?" _

_"Rrr! Whats wrong! WHATS WRONG IS THAT YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF ME LAST NIGHT!" _his eyes widened as he struggled to comprehend what i had just said. Somewhere in the background of it all i could hear Melanie laughing fit to bust. Well, i would deal with her later. Then he laughed, first it was just a chuckle or two, but soon it turned into full-scale laughter. Wonderful, he's mocking me. My eyes narrowed to thin slits and my patience was wearing thin.

_" Oh Lessa, you wanted me last night. Just like i wanted you. It was mutual sis" _What!

_"Well that's not how i remember it!" _liar, a voice spoke inside me. I ignored it, i was angry, and when im angry; people get hurt. Melanie drew closer, floating out from the shade of the doorway.

_"You don't even remember it" _Ouch she's right, i don't remember it. I was shocked to see set's face fall.

_"Wait..you don't remember any of it?" _his voice was tiny, almost a squeak. He even looked vulnerable; just like in his sleep.

_"Well..not the sex part but i remember everything else.." _i backtracked. Oh dear, he looked dismayed now. I don't understand why he's caring, he's evil. Ugh, nothing makes sense anymore!

_"I see" _he turned away so i could not see his face, it was his turn for his fists to clench. Wow, i didnt know i affected him so much. He turned again towards a shiny unit where a kettle stood, and flicked the switch; struggling to contain whatever feelings he had burning within him. was it rage? or something else. Who knows, i cant mind-read, at least..not at will anyway.

_"Shall we sit?" _he asked, his fists slowly stopped their trembling and he turned to face me again.

_"Of course"_ i pulled out the closest chair and sat down opposite him. I faced my head down, staring at the sparkles of the floor awkwardly. I think i have offended him. Melanie herself stayed by the door. The switch of the kettle clicked and at a swipe of sets hand, another maid i had not noticed; scurried in and poured the water into a pot. She then set it down in front of him on a place-mat.

_"Lessa, please look at me" _he implored. I jerked my head upwards and looked directly into his eyes. They were a sunset orange and his hair sweeped just above them, its color a chocolate brown. It matched mine and i realized then, just how beautiful he really was.

_"What are you going to do about the maids that have seen me here?" _i asked, the first thing that came to mind. I regretted it instantly and clamped my hand over my mouth, disbelieving that i had just ruined that moment. his mouth dropped in a circled 'O' but soon became a half-smile.

_"Hahaha, i shouldnt laugh really but you sure do amuse me when your nervous. To answer your question i will have to exterminate them, cant have marissa knowing you were here" _he stopped laughing the instant he mentioned her name, that taboo making an appearance again. Although serious Set was much easier to figure out.

_"Oh_~ _i know that should probably bother me, but it doesn't" _

_"Your more evil than you think, maybe you should join me. Why fight for good when you can be evil?" _i think he's actually being serious, jeez.

_"As nice as the offer is, my answer is no. I'm not cut out for evil and besides, im not fighting for good. I fight for my revenge only" _he tilted his head inquisitively.

_"Revenge huh? marissa i guess?" _i nodded.

_"Shame" _an undercurrent of tone lay hidden beneath that word. Melanie nodded for some reason that i could not fathom. Set raised from his seat, leaving his untouched coffee behind.

_"Come, its time to give you the information i promised you" _he put his hand out to me. I placed mine in his and let him pull me up from my seat. Melanie left and it was the chance to ask the burning question i had before set could leave the room.

_"Set" _he gazed down at me, his hand still clasped around mine.

_"Yes?"_

_"Are you and marissa..lovers?" _i worried i had overstepped the mark as his features turned ashen. His hand begun to sweat in mine. He shook his head slightly.

_"No.. your the only one i have ever had the pleasure to go to bed with" _Really? Wow.. i know i dont remember it but im amazed- and pleased. Some part of me that contained those stupid feelings i had recently started to feel, was happy. However it was short-lived as i pondered why he and marissa had not done it. I had thought marissa used him as her lapdog for everything, i guess i'm wrong.

_"Come" _he repeated and tugged my hand forward along with his as he marched forward. I counted 7 rooms that we passed before we reached his office again. Non-surprisingly it was spotless, despite last night's events. I just wish i could remember them; damn alcohol. The laptop glinted in the lone ray of sunlight that enveloped the mahogany desk in warmth. The lack of sunlight around the rest of the room made the blood red walls look incredibly foreboding, not that i was scared. I wasn't scared yesterday and i wont be now. He dropped my hand and strolled across the last few meters to his desk. The lazy smile had returned, and i my stomach did back-flips when i thought of how he described going to bed with me.. he called it a pleasure if i wasn't mistaken. I followed sheep-like, struck by the thought of the poem about Icarus flying too close to the sun. I pushed the thought away, damn that stupid earthling crap.

_"Lessa" _yet again he pulled me away from my daydream. This has got to stop; its embarrassing, its also rude of him to interrupt my train of thought. I smiled as i realized how ridiculous that just sounded.

_"Here" _he flipped his laptop around to show me the flashing screen._ "See this area?"_

_"Yeah" _

_"That's the end of a river, about 6 miles from here. According to the area's current energy levels, a portal will probably activate there in about_~_"_he paused to check the time at the bottom of the screen. _"An hour of so"_ i took the laptop screen from his hands and peered as close as i could without burning my eyes.

_"I see, well then i guess i had better go now if i'm to make it in time" _i set the laptop back down onto the desk and turned to leave. His hands clamped onto my wrists.

_"Wait.."_

_"Mm?" _he pulled me to face him and then grasped me in his arms, encasing me in his chest. After my initial shock i wrapped my own arms around him and inhaled his heady smell. I always did like the smell of sweat, not locker room kind of sweat just, well its hard to explain. His right hand rested on my waist, and his left was stroking my hair.

_"What have you done to me? I'm supposed to be evil" _he whispered over and over into my ear, nothing but a whisper of breath. I entangled my fingers in his hair and pulled his head away from my shoulder so that i could see his face more clearly. The fear in his eyes was evident as i leaned in and kissed him on those rosy-red lips of his. That's when it all came rushing back, i stumbled backwards as the memories of last night invaded my thoughts. I could see it all clearly, the pain and the pleasure we both shared as we lost the physical and mentality of our virginity. From the corner of my eye, Melanie reemerged from the shadows and winked at me, i was too overwhelmed to think coherently let alone get mad.

_"Lessa- whats wrong?"_

_"Um, its nothing" _he assessed me disapprovingly, he didn't believe that for one second, neither would i to be honest. He then frowned in concern.

_"Was it a vision?" _A..vision?

_"Vision?" _i was no longer following what was going on. Melanie nodded darkly and an unspoken sentence passed between us telepathically. She wanted me to tell him that's what it was, i suppose she was helping for once. I tilted my head and made a beheading motion behind set to show that she was to explain all to me later.

_"Yes, just a vision" _his eyes flicked over my expression once more as i struggled to keep it truthful, i still did not understand why i was going at such lengths to contain it from him. Is this really what earthlings call love. I felt a ball of bile raise up in my throat as the earthlings invaded my mind again, i had suffered so much at their hands. Now they were all gone and i had no idea where; it seemed i would never get my revenge on them. He opened his mouth as if to press the matter further but withheld it as his laptop began to flash insistently. That caught his full attention and he grabbed it frantically, his frown turning into fear as he read each sentence of the display.

_"Set whats going on?" _i immediately pulled on my jet black suit that a maid had generously cleaned whilst i was sleeping, its stretchy fabric fitting to all the contours of my body. My guns lay on the desk and with one fell swoop, Melanie grabbed them and forced them into my holsters. Something serious was going on. Letting go of the laptop, he slammed one palm down on the desk; hard, and the other was ripping the wisps of curtains across the window, so that the outside could not be seen.

_"Lessa, you have to go"_

_"Go?"_

_"Now Lessa!" _i turned and then stopped, folding my arms defiantly.

_"I'm not going until you tell me whats going on" _he strode towards me and grabbed ahold of my arms. He then shook me, once, twice; hard.

_"You are so exasperating" _he growled._ "you really want to know? fine. Marissa's army have a tip off of an intruder at this base. They are coming here right now to kill you!" _Shit, who knew it was so serious.

_"The army of darkness?" _

_"The very same"_

_"Fuck" _he pulled open one of the many drawers of his desk and took out what seemed to be an M16A4 assault rifle, a closer inspection confirmed it. What the hell did he have one of those in his draws for? He stroked it lovingly and then took my hand, clasping it around the rear of the gun.

_"Your giving it to me?" _i tried and failed to keep the disbelief from my voice, he seemed attached to it. After all, he did keep it in his draw.

_"Yes, you'll have more use for this than i will"_

_"O-okay, well id better go" _Melanie got to her feet awaiting my next move. He seemed to be working out something in his head.

_"I'd show you where the back door is but i have some business to take care of"_

_"You mean maids to kill" _his mouth turned up at the corner.

_"Yes that, now seriously go. Take the elevator down to the bottom floor, turn right and down the end of that corridor you'll find the back door exit"_

_"Okay" _i nodded and stepped towards the door. I then leaned on the door-frame and looked back one more time at his face.

_"Just so you know set, i hate you" _he smirked.

_"I hate you to sis" _i grinned and slipped out of the door, hugging the m16 to my chest.

_"Its time to have some fun Melanie" _i told her as we stood inside the elevator, waiting for it to travel down the 50 floors. Id almost forgotten how long it took last time.

_"About time" _Melanie shrugged as the doors slid open, and we sprinted down the corridor. I say sprinted, Melanie just floated. The door opened as the censor was activated, and we stood taking in the freshness of the wind that breezed through our hair. My hair itself was short and brown in color and for the first time since yesterday i felt the feeling of freedom as my hair tickled the nape of my neck. I knew i could never get enough of this feeling, despite set's words haunting me.

_'Your more evil than you think' _Maybe set, but all the monster inside me wants is revenge. That doesn't make me like you, because i have a purpose. From the far left, i acknowledged the ones that most be part of her army. They weren't quiet in the slightest. Each snapped twig, each breath that was taken; it all gave them away. It seemed they were heading for the front of the base only. I didn't think set would be in trouble, i'm just worried that he hadn't had enough time to kill all the maids. Melanie sensed that too.

_"it could be fun distracting them" _Melanie remarked casually. Huh? oh of course. My legs were itching to run anyway, it would be an excellent exercise.

I waited, awatching my prey as they attempted to silently approach the base. The creatures of the woodland ran away from each masked man as they stalked forward in their crouched stances. I waited until they were in plain view of my eyesight, just outside of the base. I let go of the breath i had been holding, and launched forward; tearing up clods of dirt as i raced past them, pushing myself more than i had ever pushed before. I heard their cries of outrage as they noticed me, and they too gave chase. They weren't quite tearing up dirt, but they were fast i give them that. The thrill of the chase felt exhilarating and as they started to gain on my position; they only spurred me on. I had already slung the M16 over my back and i pulled my pistols from their holsters. I swung them around on my index fingers once and as they faced behind me, i fired simultaneous bullets. Their cries grew louder as soldiers fell but still many more pursued me. No matter. It continued like this for several minutes, they did not weaken and nor did i. Trees were hazy to see as we zipped past them and i had no sense of direction as we headed on endlessly. Only when the ground started to sound thinner, as our feet pounded it; did i worry. It could only mean one thing.

_"Lessa, the cliff!" _Melanie cried from beside me. The soldiers noticed it just mere seconds after we did. I skidded to a stop just in time, standing stock still on the balls of my feet, the cliff edge crumbling from my weight. The soldiers stopped and although they were masked, i could sense them smirking; thinking that they had me now. Well they were wrong. Underneath the cliff lay the river that set had mentioned beforehand. Maybe it was deep enough, maybe it wasn' at them i spread my arms, letting go of all inhibitions, falling down the cliff edge. I awaited for one of two sensations, death or life.

I pulled her dripping wet body from the water, noting we were washed up about 6 miles of the base. I myself could feel the pressing energy, forming into one big doorway; a portal. It was time to wake her.

_"Lessa" _i said softly, shaking her shoulder gently. She stirred slightly, her mouth in a wide 'O' as she gasped for air. I sat her up and rubbed her back as she brought up the amount of water she had swallowed. It wasn't pleasant, but there also wasn't much time.

_"Lessa the portal, its open" _that got her attention. She forced herself to stand, pulling her fingers through her short, matted hair, in an attempt to straighten it. I wordlessly handed her the two pistols she had dropped as she fell and expressionless, she folded them back into their holsters. Stepping forward as the energy became visible, she watched as a doorway formed to another dimension. It forced a gust of wind to sweep the area, sweeping her hair across her eyes; her blinking as she brushed it away. I took her hand and together, we stepped into a void of darkness, waiting for the next world to arrive.


	4. Chapter 4- The beginning of the end

Chapter Four- The beginning of the end

I waited for the cook to deposit the slop they called dinner onto the grubby plate. I know it was called a mess hall and all but the state of hygiene was appalling. My ma would have a fit if she saw how i was living now. I guess it could be a whole lot worse, at least its going to be when i get drafted to Vietnam. That itself had always been my worst nightmare, at first it was just stories. All those other men being drafted to Vietnam to help the south Vietnamese fight against the north's and the Vietcong. It was only when i was forced to join the army did i realize what was really going on. To sum it up in words, we had been landed into a whole heap of someone else's shit. The cook dropped a tonne of slime onto my plate and gestured for me to move along so that the other soldiers could be served. I walked away begrudgingly, eying the slop suspiciously. I'd done a whole year of medical training, i was pretty sure this food wasn't going to give us the strength we needed for combat. I sat down at the nearest table, an empty seat either side of me; for i had no friends here.

I chewed on the slop thoughtfully, trying to coerce the lumps down my esophagus. When she walked in, i choked, the lumps once again threatening to break free. I'd heard about her from the other men but this was the first i had seen of her. She was spoken of like a legend, the only woman to pass grunt school- in fact the only one allowed to even try for grunt school; and she did in it a mere week as well. Every test, that took men at least a year to prepare for, she passed within mere days. She'd come out of nowhere a few weeks back Physically she must be super-fit, i'd had also heard she was pretty too, but until now that had remained something for me to judge with my own eyes. Looking at her now, i could confirm what i had heard. Her hair was short and chocolate brown, dead straight til her chin, and then flicking outwards. It suited her heart-shaped face and her wide brown eyes. As she came closer with her own plate of slop, i noticed her pupils had a fleck of red in them; like a lone flame of fire. Her uniform stretched tight across her chest, and then hung slightly of her waist; only clinching inwards at the rounded hips. I couldn't see her behind, but i could bet that was shapely too. She smiled as she passed by me, an upward curl of her lips; some unknown thoughts clouding her eyes. I had a gut feeling that wasn't the last i'd seen of her yet.

January 26th 1968. The helicopter flew low over the jungle, obscene music playing over the radio, attempting to drown out the sounds of automated gunfire and the yells of the gunner placed on the outside of the helicopter. He sounded like he was having fun if the 'Come get some! come get some!' yells were anything to go by. I looked up and took in the surroundings i sat in. The back of a marine helicopter. The two side doors were open and two long rows of seating was here in the back. Each fitted three, and were filled with the exception of one seat. That made five of us in the squad i had been assigned to.

_"Now then fellas let me introduce you to our new squad medic's, Listania and Kahler" _That was our squad leader, Frank wier; more commonly known as ragman. This was the first time we were together as a squad, being drafted over to Vietnam to fight the war. It would also be the first time i saw Vietnam, i think it was the one called Harold kahler's first time too. He sat opposite me, his legs trembling from fear.

_"You mean we've gotta hump it out in the woods with nothing but cherries?!" _that was Bruce lesh, nicknamed junior for reasons unknown.

_"Aw well, ain't that just fucking great" _That was the final member of our squad, Will shafer. Nicknamed hoss; again i didn't understand the reason behind the naming, but i guess they'd been touring a lot longer than i have.

_'Well of course, except kahler that is' _Melanie remarked from the safety of my mind. That way the rest of them couldn't hear her. The way it used to be when i lived with the earthlings, just lots and lots of telepathic communication; if you could call both spirits being in ones head a telepathic conversation that is. Being in the cover of the army meant i couldn't show my true self, and they certainly couldn't know about Melanie either.

_"I bet the woman don't even know how to use a gun" _

_"You wanna test that theory out?" _i replied silkily, glaring at hoss.

_"Now listen, Lessa's a qualified medic and kahler here ain't just some cherry straight out fresh, before joining the screaming eagles he completed a full year of med school"_

_"That don't mean shit sarge"_

_"Yeah right, that cherry's got more stone than you"_

_"Go fuck yourself pecker-wood" i_t seemed after just those few seconds, kahler had been branded with the name cherry. At least it wasn't me, although something about kahler just screamed out cherry, it suited him strangely enough.

_'You gonna call him cherry too huh?'_

_'I guess so Mel, i gotta admit; i like the name'_

_"Look you two, we ain't in Alabama no more. This is here and i'm running your lives right now, do you understand me!" _The two mumbled 'yes sir' and faced down at the floor. Again i watched cherry, who was trying to press his legs together so the shaking was less evident. I cant say it was working but no-one else seemed to notice it. I felt a burst of pity for him_._

_"Are you okay?" _i asked him. He looked up from his trembling knees startled to be talken to. I could sense him questioning if i was talking to him.

_"Yes cherry, i meant you"_

_"O-oh sorry, i-im fine miss" _miss? ugh it made me feel like an earthling teacher. Of course this was earth, just a different time in a different dimension. Damn portal, the only bad thing going on here was the Vietnam war. Marissa was no-where to be sensed but i guessed fighting in the war could be fun. At least, according to Melanie, fate had brought us here for a reason. Might as well have some fun whilst we figure out what to do next.

_"Please, call me lessa"_

_"O-oh right of course. I'm fine thank you lessa"_

_"Good" _i smiled at him and he returned it halfheartedly. His eyes then widened as though he remembered something..or me. I wondered if i could get a glimpse of what he's thinking. Back on earth it usually happened randomly, but if i was to train it..

Aha! found it!

_'I remember her now, she's that girl everyone talked about, the one i saw in the mess hall. I didn't think for one moment i would end up in the same squad as her'_

_'Cant say that sounds too promising lessa'_

_'Promising for what?'_ i inwardly raised my eyebrows, not entirely sure what she was getting at.

_'So what? he remembers seeing me around the base, who cares'_

_'Never mind' _i felt rather than saw her childish smile.

_"All right everyone, we're approaching the base now for weapons evaluation. I want every swinging dick on station"_ oh? it was immature but it amused me, after all its not everyday that they had to account for a woman in their squad so i guess its easy to forget. Hoss and junior sat up straight like a rod, every pore stood to attention. The helicopter passed one more forest and then began to make its descent downwards.

_"Here we are soldiers, welcome to ghost town" _we stood as the helicopter touched ground and in turn jumped down to the dusty ground.

_"Good luck boys, i'll see you around" _the pilot saluted us and with a whir of blades, the helicopter left again. Time for some action. Ragman nodded as though he had heard my thoughts, and motioned for us to follow him through the gates of our new base.

_"Alright, hoss, junior, you know what to do. _They nodded and departed of in separate directions around the base._ "you two" _

_"Mm?" _we stood to attention and awaited his order_. _

_"Your both to report to the PX office to receive your kit, they'll tell you where to go after that. I'll be going my separate way now,see you around" _he saluted and left, pulling a M3A1 Grease gun SMG from his backpack and sat on the nearest box. One of many that seemingly littered the entirety of the base; from what i could see so far. I only knew my guns because of the many war games i had played back on modern earth, another reason why i liked killing people so much. It was much more fun in real life.

_"Private Kahler and Listania, report to the PX office" _a tanoy stated, echoing around the base. So that's how it worked in combat bases, you definitely couldn't miss it, that's for sure. This was one hell of a combat base, that's for sure. My senses were bombarded with the sounds and taste of explosions, dulled somewhat by the distasteful music playing in some of the bunkers. I guess it was all these soldiers had to hold on to the real world.

From what i could see so far, the base was comprised of many sections. There was worn out signposts, telling of where to go. A motor pool and helipad were situated somewhere in the north east of the base. The inner compound lay before us, with four small bunkers at each corner. Dotted around this were the PX office and aid station, according to the signpost nearest us; they were on the other side of the compound. I guessed somewhere the paths carved by mud and sandbags led to the bunkers and mess hall. It wasn't too different from my previous base, just more messy and dirty that's all. Oh, and actual war was going on here.

_"I repeat, private Kahler and Listania, report to the PX office for your kit" _the person on the other end of the speaker sounded like he was getting antsy. Time to go.

_"We'd better go" _cherry said nervously, shifting from foot to foot; seemingly waiting for me to move too.

_"Yeah"_ i nodded at him reassuringly. Poor thing, he was shaking in his boots. His tall-ish statue and baby-ish face made me place him around the age of eighteen. I wasn't sure, it was just a guess.

_"Your first time huh?"_ i asked conversationally, as we started walking around the edge of the inner compound, hearing snippets of other soldiers conversation as we went.

_"Yes.. yours too?"_

_"Yep" _he was silent again, left brooding to his thoughts.

_"Hey"_ i placed a hand on his shoulder to still him, both of us now standing stock still; his terrified eyes questioning me._ "we'll get through this. we're in this together okay?" _he stopped shaking and his eyes lit up in determination and surprise.

_"Your right, of course we will"_

_"Of course im right" _i smiled impishly. we continued walking again, the PX office only a few meters away now.

_"Lessa"_

_"Yes?" _i turned my face towards him, seeing that he was staring at me.

_"Thank you" _huh?

_"oh, it was nothing" _i blushed. His own cheeks reddened a little. i still didn't understand why he was thanking me, and Mel was surprisingly silent. Her lack of opinion was astonishing.

We stepped down the wooden steps that led to the PX office, suddenly bathed in the warm glow of orange torch's; that were there to light up the damp, black wood. The wood shook as a helicopter flew over the bunker. Inside were more torch's and a spacious room with a window slide, separating the weapons from the soldiers. One guy was sat on a radio inside the room with the slider, an another stood tiredly at the window. Only one other soldier was in here with us. He stood desperately on our side of the window, engaging the server in hurried conversation.

_"Well i need me some of those M60 LMG's, M16's and grenades. It's for a squad of ten"_

_"Well the M16's and grenades are fine but we're pretty low on M60's. We still haven't been restocked yet"_

_"Damn it, we gotta have those PIG's, my sarge is chewing my ass over this and we're going into some serious shit later on" _

_"Alright i'll check what we have in the back in a minute, but first i gotta serve these two" _he told him, having spied us standing patiently in the corner of the room. We stepped forward to the window as the other soldier shrugged and stepped backwards.

_"Private Kahler and Listania, reporting for duty sir" _Cherry said, i was pleased to see his confidence had arisen. There was also the way he said my last name, it just seemed to roll of his lips.

_"Okay, let me just go get your kit" _the soldier stepped into a hidden back room and we were left to stand awkwardly with the other soldier.

_"You know, you'll be lucky to get a tooth pick around here, let alone a gun" _i ignored him and surveyed the room more closely. It was different to how war games portrayed it. Posters with inspirational sayings and models of women were tacked mindlessly around the room, still unable to fill the bareness of the walls. The sound of clomping boots indicated the soldier was back and looking up, his arms were filled with our kit. He dropped it down onto his desk and then handed a CAR-15 assault rifle, M1911 pistol, and frag grenades to cherry. He slung the rifle over his backpack, and carefully slotted the pistol and grenades into his back. When i was handed my kit, i did the same. The only difference was that i was an M16A1 assault rifle instead of the carbine 15 model.

_"Don't you lose this kit or else you'll be standing tall before the man"_

_"Yes sir!" _we replied in unison.

_"Also, could you do me a favor?"_

_"Sure" _i said.

_"Alright, take this bottle of whiskey to the major up by the firing range, thanks" _he handed me the whiskey and i slotted that in my bag too. Didn't want to be tempted to drink it after all.

_"Alright then let's see what i can do about those PIG's" _he informed the testy soldier and disappeared into the backroom again. We left them to it and went outside again in silence.

_"Private Kahler and Listania, please report to the aid station"_ i looked up in annoyance.

_"They sure are on the ball huh"_ i muttered.

_"Well i guess they have to be, what with a war going on"_ cherry said resigned to the situation.

We set of again in the direction of the aid station, which lay on the other side of the inner compound.

_"So..your a medic huh?" _cherry asked. I chuckled at my own private joke.

_'He's making small talk already' _Melanie snickered.

_'Whats that supposed to mean?' _i thought angrily but Mel was silent again. Jeez she really did get on my nerves sometimes, even as bad as the earthling kids.

_'Hey that was offensive'_

_'Good, it was supposed to be' _cherry tilted his head, prompting me for an answer.

_"Yes- probably the only reason i got into here" _i chuckled again, knowing full well that he didn't know the meaning behind the words i just said. Only me, Mel and two others would understand that.

_"Oh, right" _he looked down at the floor again and continued to do so until we came up to the aid station. This time the inside was filled with grey daylight and the sounds of groaning soldiers could be heard. The first room we came into was filled with desks and beds, one medic attending to a wounded soldier on a gurney, attempting to administrate some sort of pain relief. On the other side of the room only one more soldier was visible, he was sat at a desk speaking frantically into a radio; an intense look on his face. The medic turned around, noticing us, and as his attention was diverted from his patients gaping leg wound, a bucket full of blood spurted out, drenching the floor and the air with it's coppery smell. The medic gasped and turned back, squeezing the wound with his hands, attempting to stem the blood.

_"Don't just stand there! grab that dressing of the table!" _i darted forward and swiped the dressing of the closest cabinet, lowering myself to the soldiers leg; and getting splattered in the face with blood, i quickly wrapped the bandage around the wound, compressing it as tight as possible with cutting the circulation of in a life-threatening way. The medic then took over, and strapped his leg up high in the air; the bleeding had now stopped. Phew. Assured his patient was safe now, he turned his attention back to us. Cherry tried not to look at the blood that covered half of the floor.

_"Good work soldier, now. What are you here for?"_

_"We need some field dressings for our squad since we're bravo platoons new medic's" _i told him.

_"I see, you'll find what you need in the back room there" _he said dismissively, pointing towards a stretched headboard; marking the doorway into a dingy room. We nodded our thanks and bowed down our heads in order to not hit our heads on the headboard as we made our way into the back room. Inside here were floor beds, and many soldiers were sleeping in order to ignore the pain of their wounds. Only one desk was in here and on it were a plentiful amount of field dressings. We helped ourselves to 20 between us, i hoped that we would not need more. I was still folding them into my backpack when i sensed cherry watching me. I straightened up and stared back at him.

_"Whats wrong?" _i asked.

_"You've um, got some blood on your face" _he stuttered, i think he's embarrassed for being caught staring at me.

_"Oh-" _i lifted my arm up to wipe it.

_"Here let me" _he pulled out a cloth from his pocket and gently wiped the blood of my face. Problem was it smeared. We both blushed and his face turned as red as a tomato as he had to lick his finger and trail it along the blood, making it susceptible to coming of. When he wiped it again, it came of. Whilst he did this, i took the time to really study his face. It was round, but slightly squared at the jaw. His hair wasn't very long but was thick and black as night. I wanted to touch it to see what it felt like, but i knew that would most likely scare him. His eyes however, were beautiful. They were brown like mine, but a different shade. A wondrous shade of hazel brown, his pupils wide and quivering. Overall he was quite cute. His hand was strong too but it felt soft as it brushed my face gently. I let out the breath i had been holding and forced myself to look away as he stopped.

_"Thanks" _i said quietly as he took his hand away_. _

_"It was nothing" _From in my head i could hear Melanie laughing quietly. I wondered what the punchline was.

_"We should go" _he said softly.

_"Yeah, lets find the others" _I was stunned as we walked outside again, the sounds of bombing and shooting were not bringing me back to reality this time. This war.. im supposed to be having fun, not getting confused by all these strange feelings i'd never felt before. Damn it Melanie, your just laughing at my expense.

It wasn't long before the others were in sight. They were all sat together, each on a separate box polishing their guns. Ragman was the only one who was into it though as junior and hoss were just going through the motions. It appeared that hoss was talking and junior was listening. As we drew closer, i started to catch what hoss was saying.

_"Oh, if my old ma could see me now. My ma always used to say i was a real live wire. Used'ta sit there on the porch with her bott'le of whiskey, chuckling to herself about those words. She'd repeat em over an over, you see in those day's she was what you call a witch"_ it was the word witch that startled me. How could he talk so freely about such things..i thought earthlings hated them..

_"People used to come to her and ask about their future, normally she just told em where to go. I wonder what she saw i'm my future.." _hoss chuckled softly, gazing wistfully at the grey sky. Junior seemed unaffected by his speech and proceeded to babble on what he thought was important.

_"Man i'm too short for this shit, 28 days and i'm getting the fuck out of here. Back to the good old days where i just sit with a beer in some bar, and get laid an hour after" _junior also watched the sky wistfully and i followed cherry now that it seemed safe to approach. Only ragman looked up from his cleaning when we reached the boxes.

_"Hey, you ready for weapons evaluation?" _he asked without pausing from polishing his grease gun.

_"Yes sir" _we confirmed in unison. He smiled briefly.

_"Alright, we'll come with you to the firing range, and please. Call me sarge" _

_"Yes sarge!" _that certainly pulled hoss and junior from their daydream.

_"Aw man, why we gotta go with them"_

_"Because i have ordered you to soldier, and you will do so; you understand me?!"_

_"..yes sarge" _the three of them slid their guns away and stood up by us.

_"Alright lets go"_

About half an hour later the weapons evaluation was over. I had only missed one target despite the major's reassurance that i would not be able to shoot shit. Cherry did well too, i think he only missed one or two targets. At least, that's what hoss blurted out afterwards when he boasted about how he hadn't missed a single one. Junior just snorted and said the only reason for that was he sprayed so many bullets when he fired, it was impossible for one to be missed. Hoss glared and told him that if he didn't shut up, he was gonna ram his M60 so far up his ass he'd be spitting out bullets for a week. I had a feeling that maybe this would be fun after all. Watching them bicker made me have another new sense, a sense of belonging.

_"VC AT THE WIRE!" _the two of them stopped arguing and within seconds we were of again, this time as a whole squad, heading for the nearest bunker.

_"BRAVO PLATOON TO BASE 5, I REPEAT; BRAVO PLATOON TO BASE 5" _alright we got the picture seriously. We were there within mere moments and it was the first i'd seen of one of this bunkers. It was a hut with three long windows, looking out over the mesh of wire that was supposed to keep out the vc. An automated machine gun was emplaced in the middle of the front window and hoss didn't hesitate to take his place on it. Besides us, there were three other soldiers in here, each at a window. I took up position on the left, cherry the right, and junior and ragman were either side of hoss. Everyone was as close to the outside of the window as they could get, probably because they feared that due to the overcrowding of this bunker, friendly fire was most likely to occur.

It was a shootout for a period of five minutes, me and melanie getting in some good kills, mostly headshots ,as Melanie had a tendency to scream out within the depths of my mind. The crowds of vc dissipated as they retreated and i took the chance to wipe my brow with the cloth from my pocket. I realized it was the cloth from cherry when he wiped my face earlier. I'd forgotten that i'd even pocketed it. Peering at it closely, within the dark green material were two initials stitched into the fabric. These were H.K. Harold Kahler.. After a moment of thought i decided to tie it under my bangs around my head as some sort of bandana headband. Just like cherry's, and despite Melanie's protests that i fancied him, it wasn't that. I just.. felt closer to him than anyone else in the squad. Probably to do with the similar aging- not that i knew what his age was.

_"Alright well done soldiers, its time to report to the gate for combat patrol" r_agman ordered and off we set again, ready for our first mission.


	5. Chapter 5- First mission

Chapter Five- First Mission

Our first mission was to patrol the jungle and eliminate all Vietcong from a Vietnamese village just south of the base. We were to be assisted by squad delta, who were riding in tanks over the muddy trails of the Vietnamese jungle we were patrolling. Our squad was on ground patrol and it sure was boring, not a single vc had been spotted so far. We had been going for over an hour already, burnt by the sun despite being shaded by the leafy trees above us.

_"Hey sarge, how come we didn't get a ride on one of those APC's?" _cherry asked.

_"I know where i'd rather be" _ragman answered and that was the end of discussion.

_"Man, i'm too short for this shit"_

_"Junior, shut up" _ragman yelled looking back over his shoulder. The first APC was further ahead and as all was silent with the exception of the tanks rumbling.

_'BANG!' _A massive smoke cloud blew up in front of us and it was impossible to see what had just happened. The APC next to us jolted to a stop, forcing us to halt.

_"Shit man, shit. Um, sergeant Wier, take the rookies and check out the APC" _The lieutenant of delta squad ordered, the rookies being me and cherry.

_"Yes sir" _Ragman replaced the magazine of his grease gun and motioned for us to follow him. We dropped down the newly made dip and gathered around the burning APC. It looked pretty fucked to me. All blackened and upside down; you could bet everyone inside was long-dead.

Ragman lifted his arm behind his head, unsure of what to say_._

_"Well i'd say that's pretty messed up sarge" _

_"Alright, lets go report back to the lieutenant, no survivors to be found" _We clambered back up the ditch and reported back to the lieutenant. He was pretty pissed, he'd just lost two members of his squad and that only left three behind, including him. He pulled on his hair in despair and whipped out a radio from his backpack. The remaining soldiers stood behind him expectantly.

_"This is delta squad here, we just lost one of our APC's. How's the situation going back there? uh-huh. Alright bravo platoon will continue with the original mission, over" _Ragman stepped forward.

_"Alright ragman i just been on the radio to six, it seems a large convoy of vc just showed up about a click east of here. Me and the other two will check it out, and your squad will continue with the original mission"_

_"With all due respect sir, i think i'm going to need more than four men to clear out the village"_

_"You have your orders now clear out the village and return to the LZ for extraction when your done"_

Delta squad gathered up their equipment and mounted the APC again, soon they had rumbled of, leaving us behind.

_"Alright men you heard them, let's go" _We marched of again, continuing down the muddy trail. Soon it opened into a shallow river and we proceeded to wade through the river. It only reached up to our knees but it was still tiring work. It led on for a mile, still with no sign of vc and it was only when a blockade of raft material and bamboo sticks covered the width of the river; cutting us of, did any signs of vc appear. Within mere seconds of approaching the blockade were we attacked, snipers in the trees, and infantry on the ground.

_"OPEN FIRE!" _ragman roared and we poured the led on them, i say we; junior being a sniper and all couldn't really pour it on them but was good for annihilating his fellow snipers in the trees. It was over in seconds, barely any of us were hit by bullets but we managed to lodge many of them in the vc. All had fallen within the minute.

_"Well that was pitiful"_ i remarked unimpressed.

_"Yeah, those fuckers didn't know what hit em!" _

_"Don't get too cocky, now lets continue"_

_"Which way sarge?"_ Good question, which way now. There was no going through the blockade, clearly. I spied around and spotted a burning barrel to my left, it seemed to be lighting up the mouth of a tunnel.

_"That way" _ragman marched of through the tunnel entrance that i just spotted and the rest of us followed behind like sheep.

_"Stop!" _ragman called suddenly. He bent down between two bushes and seemed to be untangling something with his hand's. I twisted my head to see but it was impossible with cherry and hoss in the way.

_"Fucking vc, it's a booby trap"_ hoss declared, since being closest to ragman; he could actually see what he was doing.

_"All clear" _ragman stood up and tossed the remains of vc trip-wire onto the ground. As we walked on, the tunnel opened up into a leafy clearing. It was comprised of luscious green trees and plants, with the occasional abandoned rafters leaning against trees of tossed onto the ground. It reminded me of survival training back at the base. Those were the days. A whole week of training and eating in the wilderness, it doesn't get more fun than that.

_'Sure it does' _

_'Melanie, i was being sarcastic' _i rolled my eyes inwardly.

_'Ohhh, another one of those bad habits you picked up from the earthlings'_

_'Its not a bad habit, its called being real'_

_'Sure, whatever you say lessa'_

Further ahead lay a whole bunch of the rafters, formed into one big entrance which i presumed lead into the village. Oh good, we were practically there, maybe there would be some challenging vc inside. I stepped forward, only to see a bullet whiz past my right ear. Holy hell, that was close. I almost lost an ear. The others rushed forward as the vc presented themselves once more, and it was open fire all over again. Bullets bounced of the rafters, and carved dents within the trees. I kept hold of my M16 trigger, only letting go every so often to reload my magazine. The others had intense looks of concentration pasted on their faces as we avoided their bullets and sprayed them with our own.

_"Shit, taking fire!" _that was junior who had just obtained himself a leg wound.

_"No shit!"_

_"I didn't ask for your opinion pecker wood, Man i'm too short for this shit!" _

_"We're in the middle of combat, shut the fuck up!"_ This time it lasted for longer, i wasn't counting but Mel informed me it was about ten minutes. We also obtained more wounds but they were minor, even i got myself a bullet lodged about a centimeter into my arm. That was gonna be a joy to prise out, hence the sarcasm again.

_"Cease fire! Cease fire!" _again it was all over, too easy. We sat down on the mud-encased grass in order for me and cherry to do our duty as medic. I easily de-lodged the rifle bullet from my arm then moved on to disinfect and cover junior's leg wound. Cherry treated hoss and himself, and ragman seemed to be just fine with dealing with his wounds himself.

_"Nice work soldiers, the village is just by those rafters. We'll be back to base in no time"_

_"I sure hope your right about that one, i'm working me up one hell of an appetite"_

_"I cant say slop's gonna fill that fat stomach of yours pecker wood"_

_"It ain't fat, that's muscle you scrawny bastard"_

_"Shut it, both of you" _Ragman stood up again, tying the final ends to the dressing covering his arm.

_"Come on, let's go"_ I stood again, this time positioned in between cherry and hoss, as we walked over to the rafter gate. Ragman was there first, and with a swing of his boot he kicked the gate wide open. Inside was poorly dressed Vietnamese villagers, walking around their straw-shed homes. A few chickens pecked around at loose flakes of corn. The stench was appalling, filling our noses with the smell of what could only be feces. A white haired villager, clutching his straw hat; came forward as we approached him through the gate.

_"Uh, sinjow, sinjow. Welcome to our humble village G.I"_

_"Hello old-timer, we're here on a routine check for vc"_ the elder didn't look so fresh no more.

_"U-uh vc, t-there are no vc here. We hate vc! they take and murder our people" 'Crack!' _

The village elder collapsed, dead to the ground and all hell broke loose.

_"Sniper in the tower!"_

_"Shit we're under fire!" _

_"Up there!" _sniper shots rang out, and shed doors swang open to reveal large numbers of vc with their rifles. I let junior handle the snipers, and shot at the ground vc instead. They just kept pouring out of all the sheds, the civilians scattered around like the chickens; running and ducking for their lives. They kept getting in the way, and it was getting harder and harder to avoid the vc shots and not shoot at the villagers.

_"Oh my god, i just killed a villager. Shit man, shit!"_

_"It's just a flesh wound, keep going" _i felled two more vc and dodged friendly fire from hoss, who was getting way too trigger happy if you ask me.

_"I'm over here you dirty vc bastards!"_

_"Are you trying to get shot at?" _i yelled at him incredulously, he hadn't seemed to notice he'd already been shot twice.

_"Stop shooting me soldier, or i'll tear you a new asshole!" _after a little while, the vc stopped pouring out, and stopped appearing on ledges and despite the fact that it was over; hoss was still firing whilst spinning in circles.

_"Yeah! i got you motherfuckers!"_

_"If you don't fucking stop shooting me man, i'm gonna bleed you real slow" _that shut him up sharpish. We scanned the area for further vc, but this time all the sheds contained were the surviving, trembling, villagers.

_"Alright fellas, let's get ourselves to the extraction point. The coordinates are 2:34, visible by some old ruins" _The four of us nodded and stood up again, brushing of the wayward leaves and corn. 2 of the chickens lay dead on the ground, their eyes glazed over, looking at another gate. That must be the exit. Our spirits raised, now knowing we would be back to base soon, our steps lightened and we soon bypassed that gate. It led out onto a swaying log bridge, and we were ambushed by more vc again. Switching my M16 to burst mode, i killed them all within seconds.

_"Nice shot man"_ i smiled at junior for the compliment. Ragman looked me over suspiciously but after a moment turned back to face the ruins. We could just about see the entrance now, two reddened columns and mossy steps between them. We could also see they were guarded by 5 vc at estimate. Ragman gave the order to stop, and we waited as junior shot them down before they even saw it coming. Once it was safe, we moved forward again, but as we drew closer to the steps; i sensed something was wrong. Beyond the steps were half-smashed walls and crumbling columns, obviously ages old due to the amount of vines and moss wrapped around it. The grass was flattened as though it had been trampled on and the columns and walls were much too red for my liking. Reaching the top step, a whirring sound of a chopper reached us, looking up it was about five minutes out from our position. Ragman motioned for us to go further in, the co-ordinates a couple of meters away. Hoss rushed in, and it was too late to warn him as the deadly silence was broken by the sound of an automated machine gun starting up from the other end of the ruined arena.

_"It's an ambush!"_

_"Well, no shit!" _The helicopter flew closer and the gunner turned his attention to it.

_"Shit, they got some kind of AA gun over there!"_

_"We gotta take out that gun!"_ I ran forward to gain view of the gun, the other three following behind. As we did so, more vc emerged from behind columns and started shooting at us relentlessly. Fine, it's time to bring out the big guns. Pulling out my grenades i saw i had four of them. Whilst the AA gunner was distracted, i lobbed one towards him; which blew him and the gun up with a satisfactory bang moments later. That solved the AA problem. An idiotic vc rushed up to the gun, before realizing it was destroyed. I shot him down whilst smirking at his stupidity. The helicopter was now overhead and although the regular vc bullets were just bouncing of the armored chopper, it couldn't land until the area was clear.

_"We gotta clear out these vc soldiers!"_

_"Easier said than done! they coming out of nowhere!" _Oh please. I took up position by the AA gun, and once sure the rest of the squad was nearby, i threw two separate grenades, either side of the back of the arena; effectively taking out half of the vc either side. I only had one grenade left so i decided to save it for later. I switched back to my gun and with the combined efforts of the others, we took down those vc. The pilot dropped a red smoke grenade, and we gathered around it; waiting for it to land.

We were home free for a little while longer.


	6. Chapter 6- Sparks of love

_Chapter Six- Sparks of love_

The rain pounded the hut surrounding us, our squad and another sat on duty inside. We were bored like no another, the radio playing in the background. Some Vietnamese woman trying to convince us not to fight. What a load of rubbish. Junior sat across from me, smoking one of his beloved cigars. Hoss was watching the wire outside impatiently and cherry sat beside me slurping from a bottle of whiskey of which we were sharing. Over the week that had passed since we first met; me and cherry had established a friendship due to being similar ages and all, although i still wasn't sure what age he was. Our squad didn't really talk about things like that when we were on duty together. The other squad sat in the back with ragman, covered by the black shadows of where the oil lamp's light didn't reach. Hoss twisted the dial and the radio switched to music; Martha and the vandella's nowhere to run, seemed fitting enough.

_"Hey pecker-wood, i was listening to that shit" _

_"It's bad enough we gotta be stuck out here whilst everyone else is kicking back, now we gotta listen to this bitch too?"_

_"I don't know man, she sounded like one of those long legged girl's to me"_ he stuck his cigar into his mouth and used his hands to curve in the air; supposedly representing some rounded woman. Hoss glared at him in contempt.

_"Look at you, getting all excited over some hanoh ma Hana"_

_"Nah man, i just need to get laid that's all" _He then turned his gaze to cherry. "_Hey, you want some of this kid?_" Cherry looked up from the rim of the bottle nervously.

_"Uh no thanks i'm good" _he lifted the bottle into the air to prove his point.

_"Lessa?"_

_"Sure"_ he leaned across and passed me the fat cigar. I stuck it between my lips and took a deep drag. Leaning back i blew the smoke out contentedly; i'd forgotten how good these things were. I took one more drag and then handed it back to junior_. _

_"So cherry, when was the last time you got laid?" _junior turned his interest back to cherry. Cherry looked down at his lap.

_"Well.. i haven't actually.. had sex" _From in the corner i heard one of those soldiers spit his mouthful of beer onto his protesting friend. Another one laughed cruelly. Hoss turned away and said nothing but junior was the most shocked of all.

_"Wow man, and your what? 17?"_

_"No, 19" _

_"I thought i needed to get laid but honestly, you need it more than i do" _Cherry's face reddened and he hastily took another swig of whiskey.

_"What about you lessa?" _he asked and hoss turned around.

_"Hm? oh, about a month ago i think" _Hoss pretended not to look at me and i thought it best not to point out that i wasn't stupid; i could tell he was looking at me.

_"And you're?"_ I rolled my eyes anticipating the reaction i was about to get.

_"16" _Another mouthful of beer spat out on some poor soldier.

_"What the fuck!?" _that was hoss, who had long given up on the motion of trying not to look at me; and was now gaping at me so hard i was surprised his jaw didn't reach the wooden floor.

_"Man, that was unexpected"_

_"Well at least she's legal" _hoss snorted and swiped a cigar from junior and toked on it.

_"Hey man, give that back!"_

_"If it's so amusing to you then tell me, when was the last time you had sex?" _my question almost made him drop his cigar as his mouth dropped open again and cherry had turned in his seat to watch me. I blushed under his curious gaze; i could tell that there was an after tone of something else hidden in his eyes. I desperately wanted to read what it was but today just wasn't my lucky day. Damn my ability to mind-read only at random moments, maybe i should start trying to refine it.

_'You probably should you know, you'd find some pretty interesting stuff going on up there'_

_'You could just save me the trouble and tell me you know'_

_'Nope, its more amusing this way'_

_'You've got a fucked up idea of amusing'_

_'Oh well, are you going to get that answer from hoss or what?'_

_"Well pecker-wood?" _junior prompted him for me. A loud 'BANG' crashed from just outside the window we sat by and the whole sky lit up like fireworks.

_"What the fuck?" _hoss turned towards the window again watching as rockets rained down from above, destroying half of the barbed wire that fenced the vc of from us.

_"ALL SOLDIERS TO BATTLE STATIONS, I REPEAT ALL SOLDIERS TO BATTLE STATIONS!"_ Saved by the bell i'd say as hoss and the rest of us were forced to turn our full attention onto the vc pushing their way through the gaps in the wire.

_"Fuck this shit, we're outta here!" _the other squad scrambled to their feet and left, as yet another wave followed the first in through the wire.

_"Fucking cowards!" _hoss screamed after them and i took the opportunity to man the machine gun. I had always wanted to go on one of these, it was hard to take it seriously as i fired it for the first time.

_"Alright soldiers, take up a position!" _the other four spread out between the other two windows and it was only when a siren sounded and i got shot from behind, did i realize that this was no ordinary attack.

_"There climbing the fucking walls!" _a 2nd lieutenant screamed as he rushed out the opposite bunker, firing wildly into the air.

_"Cherry!" _i turned my attention away from the vc for a fraction of a second to ask cherry who was the closest by me.

_"Yes?" _he also paused.

_"Take this machine gun, their shooting from behind. I'll take care of them" _His eyes widened by centimeters.

_"B-but, i-i don't know how to use it!"_

_"Just fucking shoot!" _he gulped and took over the position where my hands had been moments before and i dropped down prone to shoot the fuckers coming over the barracks to shoot at us. From what i could tell after minutes of the same motion, the ones coming over the walls weren't as often as the ones by the wire but we were defiantly overwhelmed. There was no chance of turning around and checking how everyone else was getting on, for the sake of my own head would be shot of.

Eight reloads later and a shortage of ammo appearing, the vc started to thin in numbers as cherry's shooting lessened. Hopefully it would be over shortly, my arms ached already from the constant backlash of firing bullets. My hopes were soon dashed however as the dreaded sound of rolling treads reached my ears.

_"Tank out on the main trail! Orders are to fall back to the inner compound, we make our stand there!"_

_"Lets get the fuck out of here!" _hoss cried and for once i couldn't agree with him more. We replaced our magazines once more and ran out of the bunker and followed the closest trail to the inner compound. As we rushed forward i realized that their was no chance of bypassing the main trail where the tank was currently at, i just hoped to whatever god these earthlings had that my legs would withstand the serious sprinting we would have to do in about two seconds.

Sure enough, an explosion to the entrance of another trail signified we had just reached the main trail.

_"Fuck!"_

_"Keep going!" _ragman ordered and we didn't dare to disobey him. We reached the entrance as two things happened at once. The tank exploded the helicopter not us, and another platoon of soldiers arrived.

_"Orders are to fall back, you go, we'll stay here to guide any survivors. Follow the burning barrels!" _As the run for survival started up again i realized that this wasn't just fun anymore, i may not die so easily but those soldiers didn't stand a chance against that tank. They were sacrificing their lives for us, maybe not all earthlings are so bad after all.

_"Target ahead, target ahead!" _

_"Let's go let's go lets go!"_

_"I REPEAT, ALL UNITS RETURN TO THE INNER COMPOUND IMMEDIATELY" _there was no time to think only shoot, for now i had to concentrate on the survival of myself and my squad. Melanie herself was silent, in fact i couldn't even sense her presence. She was probably of on business in some other world.

Past the deserted firing range, past the mess hall, the final trail towards the inner compound was in sight. It took longer than it usually would as we had to duck and dive prone at every rocket that fell from the sky; and eliminate the masses of straw-hat clad vc. The sky was even greyer than usual, darkened by the impending night and death-bearing storm clouds; i think i had heard of this night in the history books. The all famous TET offensive; the night the war really livened up. At least the tank was long behind us, i didn't quite have a death wish as such.

_"We're here, we're here!" _ragman announced loudly, waving vigorously at the major who stood underneath the burning tower of what used to be the inner compound. Luckily the four stone bunkers remained and besides us only one other squad was there.

_"Up here soldiers!" _just a little further i told myself, my legs numb from the intense cold radiating from my sodden trousers. I wonder how they managed this every day, the past itself much more dangerous than i had first anticipated; still nothing compared to marissa though. This sort of thing would be just a warm up to what she would do, even Hitler would be tame next to her mass killings. Probably half of the spirits in the spirit world over the past few years were from her; at least that was melanie's estimate. Except from the nightmares of my past, melanie is the only reason i know of marissa. I wish i didn't.

Finally we had dragged ourselves up there, now what hell awaited us i wonder.

_"It's good to see some friendly faces i tell you, we're all in this together boys" _the major's idea of a prep speech, short and sweet._ "alright, you guys see if you can do anything about these vc; they've already breached the outer compound-"_

_"No shit brother" _the major frowned.

_"Meanwhile i will see what i can do about some backup"_

_"Yes sir!" _we chanted.

_"Also, help yourself to ammo and medical supplies. We're gonna need em!" _If we had time to tend to injuries that is. Nevertheless i took my fair share of m16 ammo and field dressings. We split up to man each bunker at ragman's order, one for each bunker with the exception of us rookies. I was placed with cherry into the left side bunker, the one with the most vc streaming towards. As we shot them down like hell was in our guns, i heard snippets of the major's order for backup.

_"Almighty, this is super six-one. We're on standby and ready for attack"_

_"Super six-one, we will mark our targets with yellow smoke"_

_"Roger that almighty, going in now"_

_"Alright fellas grab those smoke grenades and mark the areas where those vc are coming from!" _There was a scramble as everyone made a last-ditch effort for the m18's and i found it impossible to push my way through all these bulky soldiers. Cherry squeezed back through the cluster and handed me 4 of the grenades. I was stunned at such niceness but i managed to muster a sweet smile. His cheeks reddened and he wordlessly rushed back to the bunker. I cocked my head curiously, not for the first time i wished that i could read his thoughts.

_"Lessa! this ain't no time to stand around!" _

_"Sorry sarge" _i bowed my head and sheepishly took my position at the bunker once more. Reloading once more we took out the impending vc together and cherry ripped of the clasp and swung the grenade straight into the trail they came from.

_"I'll teach you to invade my fucking base!" _

_"Get your people down, this is gonna be a big one" _the helicopter flew in and dropped its load straight onto the rising smoke. The explosion rocked the entire base and cherry threw me down to the floor before getting prone himself. It was just in time and when the explosion shook through our bunker cherry wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer. Again i was startled but strangely comforted. I leaned my head onto his firm chest, taking in the surprising warmth and the sweet smell of his sweat. If it wasn't for the seriousness of the situation i probably would have been turned on by it, who wouldn't be turned on being in the firm grasp of a strong, cute guy. We were there for longer than we should have been but time itself had strangely given the appearance of stopping.

I was stunned to my core when she reciprocated my actions. We lay there as the earth itself seemed to explode above us, her head firmly burrowed in my chest; her chest pressing into my torso. Warmth radiated from her body onto mine and her tangled brown hair tickled my face. I couldn't let go even if i wanted to. I don't know why, i had never taken an interest to a girl before but lessa was different. So young and beautiful, yet so determined and strong all at the same time. I had only known her just over a week but the time we spent together on guard and even in the mess hall together; had brought about new feelings. I wouldn't call it love.. but it was something.

It was over all too soon, the responsibility's of the war came flooding back and it was impossible to stay lying on the dirt forever. I think lessa knew that too and she stood up again and got back to work.

_"Come get some you vc motherfuckers!" _it seemed she was catching on to hoss's catchphrase already. Perhaps she didn't like me, maybe she had only wanted comfort. Damn i wish my pa had taught me about women whilst he had had the chance. Still, he probably wasn't the best for advice, he married my uptight mother after all. I shook my head insistently, this really isn't the time and place. I replaced the magazine of my CAR-15 yet again and took to shooting those fuckers that insisted on making life hell.

_"I got me one man!" _junior yelled proudly and yet again the chopper came blasting by with rockets.

_"Two down, Two to go!"_ two more targets huh? shouldn't be too hard i guess.

_"We can do this!" _i yelled encouragingly and lessa turned once more to smile at me. It was only for the briefest second before concentration overtook her, but it was beauty to my eyes.

I regretted saying that a second later however as the unmistakable sound of tank treads blasted its way through one of the trail paths.

_"Shit, tank!"_

_"Hit the dirt!" _we all threw ourselves to the ground except lessa; she had grabbed an M62-LAW from the stocks and stood confidently in the tank's path. She and the tank fired simultaneously and both seemed to explode. The tank blew into sky-high flames as more vc submerged it, and lessa had disappeared from view, having fallen at the attack. A cloud of smoke engulfed the area she had stood in and it was impossible to locate her exact position.

_"What are you waiting for cherry! get over there and help her!"_ hoss practically screamed at me. I needed no further prompting and ran faster than i had ever ran before to get to her. The smoke choked my lungs and settled heavily into my hair but i had reached the point of not giving a fuck. I convinced myself i was just doing my duty as medic, not the fact that i had feelings for this girl. I tripped over a large object which seemingly groaned if my ears served their purpose.

_"Ow, that's no way to treat a lady!"_

_"Lessa!" _i cried and the smoke dissipated so i could finally see the damage. It wasn't as bad as it should have been but a line of blood trickled down from under her hairline. I panicked and hastily pulled out a medical field dressing.

_"Stay awake lessa, keep your eyes open!" _

_"What else would i do" _she watched me with a glint in her eye as i wiped away the blood and wrapped the dressing around her forehead; her hair drenched in sweat and blood.

_"I'm glad you still have a sense of humor" _i joked.

_"I'm glad your here" _she smiled again, her lips creasing at the corners in pain. I ignored that comment and tied the ends of the dressing together, my hands trembling not just from the explosions going on around us. I finished and she sat up gingerly, never taking her eyes of me.

_"Thanks" _she said leaning forward and planting a kiss on my cheek. She then stood up and ran of to take revenge on the awaiting vc.

Wow..maybe she did like me, i pondered that thought as i brushed my fingers against my newly kissed cheek.

Two targets down, two to go. You can be sure as hell i'm going to repay those motherfuckers for blasting me. Ripping the pin of yet another smoke grenade, i launched it into the incoming mass of vc. They didn't stand a chance as the chopper came and blasted those bastards to hell.

_"Just one to go! we can do this!" _the major yelled and shot down 3 vc victoriously.

_"Come on you vc bastards!" _hoss screamed. Another mass appeared at ragman's side and he pulled out his own set of smoke grenades.

_"Good night charlie" _and he let loose the final grenade. It sailed through the drizzling rain and landed smack down in the center of the last trail. The chopper came a final time and blew the path up with a satisfactory bang. The place sure was a mess but at least it was over as more platoons arrived and took no mercy on those vc.

_"Well fought fellas"_

_"Outstanding work soldiers, you did 101st proud" _the major clapped a hand on ragman's back and us surviving soldiers gathered together under the now-put out tower.

_"Yeah! those goddam motherfucking vc wont mess with us again!"_


	7. Chapter 7- Bad moon

_Chapter Seven- Bad moon_

February the 9th, yet another week had gone by with my squad since the TET offensive. Nothing had really happened since then. Just a few minor attacks from the vc, nothing special. Today however, we had been out on a mission and we were now headed back to the extraction point for chopper and delta's, flew low over the dark maze of jungles; the only light to guide us being the sparkle of the moon. I sure didn't want to be in the pilot seat. Still i expect their seats are a lot more comfortable than the ones back here. Even hoss shifted uncomfortably from side to side continuously.

All of a sudden, as we passed over yet another jungle; everything felt wrong. All my sense's attuned to the outside world and beside me i felt cherry stiffen. It felt like..like there was something moving out there, watching us. Looking over, cherry had taken to scanning the jungle anxiously. I wonder how much he could really sense.

_"Whats wrong cherry?" _Ragman asked, finally noticing that two members of his squad had tightened in anxiety. Cherry jumped back in his seat to face ragman.

_"Oh er, its nothing sarge. Just enjoying the scenery" _he responded quietly. Hmm, i wonder. Nah of course not, i heard cherry was from an upper class family, as if he could even begin to comprehend the sixth sense that humans have but aren't aware of.

Still, his eyes continued to pan over the jungle, alert for any sign of danger. Melanie herself was quiet, in fact i think she had gone of somewhere again. Well it's not like i need her or anything.

_"Well don't forget fellas, it don't mean a thing" _that saying again, all the grunts said it. I don't, after all i'm not one of them; I never will be.

The radio crackled up front and delta team's helicopter flew a quarter of a mile ahead.

_"Blue team making its approach now"_

_"Roger that blue team" _Within mere seconds the helicopter lowered and 4 squad members high-tailed it to the ground.

_"Approach successful" _it happened before i spotted it. As the chopper made to fly of; a Vietcong with an RPG ran from behind the leafy undergrowth, raised the rocket; and blasted the chopper into a million pieces in the middle of the sky, just inches away from us. We were all rendered speechless and the pilot and co-pilot were frantically smacking the radio button up in the cockpit.

_"Shit, shit, SHIT!" _ground guns started up, the bullet case's that littered the jungle floor were visible and the bullets themselves pounded into the sides of the chopper. At least they didn't have good aim.

_"Red team making its approach now!" t_he pilot guided the chopper downwards until we almost touched ground, bullets beginning to fly in through the side doors now, the side gunners had already dropped to the ground ;dead as a doornail.

_"I'm getting shot to shit here!"_

_"This is as close as we can get sergeant wier!" _

_"Alright, let's go, go, go!" _he ordered frantically, pushing a complaining hoss outwards into the oncoming fire; before jumping down himself. Junior was more reluctant, same as cherry; but both grabbed ahold of their allotted guns and slid out of the helicopter. I didn't have a chance, another RPG was pushing its way through the leaves, and before i even had the chance to move from my frozen state; the chopper took to the air, desperate to avoid its inevitable fate. Too bad that vc's finger slipped. They didn't stand a chance when the rocket barreled into the side of the chopper. The force of it set them course for death, me..i was just on another adventure.

Despite the bullets whizzing around us, the four of us watched as the helicopter made its crash landing a few miles away, taking lessa with it. Despite the distance, i could still hear the sickening bang as it exploded; taking their lives with it. No way did lessa stand a chance, after all, she was only human. I felt a twinge of unknown pain, stretching across my chest. I realized i had just lost the one girl i had ever crushed on. I guess it's for the best, its not like it would have went anywhere anyway, but still; for some reason..i feel like she's still alive. I cant explain it, i can just feel it. Well since there's no way she can be alive, there's no harm in making a stupid promise. If she's alive then, i'm going to hug her, if not..well that was expected.

_"Cherry! will you just fucking concentrate on the shooting!" _Hoss broke me from my reverie, glaring at me the way only he could. It seemed like he had an unknown vendetta against me, despite only knowing him for 2 weeks, at least; i think it was that long, around here you kinda lose track of the days and time itself is nothing but endless.

I took to the order, despite that he wasn't ragman; i realized it was a matter of survival not petty vendetta's. Still, didn't he care about her?!.

_"We gotta get out of this clearing!" t_hat was ragman, him and junior were prone, ragman anxiously looking for a way out of the mass of bamboo sticks and leaves; junior annihilating the targets with his one shot kills.

_"Hey! down there!" _he jabbed a finger in a south-west direction and not being stupid, we all took it. We crashed through the undergrowth and bamboo, vc just barely missing us. Eventually it cleared into a path, around about the same time the amount of shots thinned out and junior and hoss were able to take out the following Vietcong. It returned back to the surreal calmness, sure to dissipate soon enough.

We stopped for a breather, reloading our guns and scanning the area we stood in. Except hoss that is, for some reason he watched me with a smirk on his face.

_"Man, cherry. You oughta see what's happened to your head" _he chuckled to himself as my hand flew to my hair. Tugging on it, i noticed a mop of broken bamboo and leaves sat clustered in my hair.

_"Yeah well, at least i got more hair than you" _i regretted it as soon as i said it, that was probably the most petty insult i could i have said. It had some effect though, as he glared at me even more maliciously than before. I ignored him and turned my attention to ragman, what was he going to do now?.

_"Sarge, what about.." _i didn't say her name, i didn't need to. He was still focused on the direction the helicopter had gone down in.

_"We'll go to the crash site, its our duty to look for any survivors"_


	8. Chapter 8- Running out of time

_Chapter Eight- Running out of time_

The smell of burning metal filled the air, choking my lungs as i pulled myself from the wastage that used to be called a helicopter. Everyone around was dead except me, even the vc that had evidently been guarding this area; had been wiped out as we had made our crash landing. I had a feeling the rush of adrenaline i had gotten as the chopper hurtled towards the ground; wasn't going to go away for a while.

My hair was scorched of all its split ends, and my uniform was shredded or burnt in many places; but i was still intact. After all, i'm not human. Why succumb to a simple death like theirs?.

The clearing was quiet aside from the crackle of smoldering flames. Torches were hanging from various trees and cast a sickly, orange glow over the grass. Looking around, there were four bodies, burnt to a crisp; that had long left this world. Rats ran down the path, squeaking as they went; running in terror from the patter of soldiers as they rushed towards me to fight. I didn't bother to pick up a gun, i didn't even move. I closed my eyes as my heart sang a remorseful tune and let them keep coming. I only opened them again as i heard them cry out in pain, unseen knifes impaling them. I remembered why i was alone now, no human could kill me or hurt me anymore. The shattered pieces of my heart would impale them as they got close, preventing me from being hurt even further.

I almost felt a bitter sorrow for them, i too knew the pain of those knifes. They would stab you in the heart until it destroyed you, a painful death to say the least.

From what i heard, death is a release. You will feel one last moment of pain and every emotion you have ever felt in your life, and then it is all gone. You don't even leave it behind, it just dissipates into the air like people's love for you will do with time. They all pretend to care, they all pretend it has destroyed them; but really they only care for their survival. The strongest instinct of human nature, and once isolated, nothing matters anymore. Maybe that's why i am the way i am, Melanie would never tell me.

I closed my eyes again and dropped to the floor, sitting with my arms wrapped around my legs. A solitary tear plopped onto the ground, it had left me like everything else.

A teenage girl was slumped against the wall, making no attempt to stem the tears that fell in torrents down her face. The darkness of the night seemed to press all around her, it seemed to be suffocating her. Although her face was tilted upwards, staring blandly into the night. She didn't seem to see the white figure in front of her; watching her with a pained expression.

_"What am i really?" _she whispered; her choked words echoed of the walls of darkness, repeating themselves over and over as her question could not be answered.

We stormed through the bamboo and leaves, my heart pounding loudly as we got closer to the wreckage of the huey. Torches hung down the sides of trees, splattered with blood as we killed countless amounts of vc. We were hurrying to get to her, and i could sense i wasn't the only one who hoped beyond hope that she was still alive. We had been down so many paths, each twisting to a place that wasn't what we hoped; but now we were close. The huey was close enough for us to smell and that alone gave me the energy i needed to get there.

I was surprised when ragman stopped. We stood to a halt outside a stone cave, an oil lamp filling it with an eery glow. He turned to look at me and nodded.

_"Look, i know its our mission to find the huey and check for survivors, but you forget. We're all getting low on ammo and i think its about time we stocked up" _I sighed, he was right after all. Even through the mist of this shitstorm i noticed ammo was becoming severely depleted. We stepped inside the cave and found that the ammo we needed was there. I took my CAR-15 ammo and after a moments hesitation, i picked up some M16A1 rounds too. I was probably just deluding myself that she was alive, but there was a chance and i was gonna take it. The other three grabbed their fair share and left the cave, i followed behind them. I hoped we were close, the bad feeling i had originally felt before we were hit by an RPG; was still lingering around.

_"Lets go, don't forget to keep it prossy" _ragman was warning us of the traps that the vc had undoubtedly put out. We hadn't come across any so far but it was going to happen, sooner or later. They were hardcore fans of punji pits and grenade trip wires. Rats ran ahead as we moved forwards, helping along with our search for booby traps.

_"Hey, aren't rats a sign that death is nearby?"_ junior asked and i glared at him as my heart sinked. He really didn't think with anything except his dick. It was surprising that this was his second tour despite his lack of tact, i'm guessing ragman must have saved his ass a few times before back in alabama.

Ragman didn't answer and instead seemed to be listening, cocking his gun in the path ahead. From what i could see, a trap of bamboo stakes were tied to a tree; and a body was caught between them.

The body coughed and hacked up blood, and i felt sincerely sorry for him. On closer inspection i saw he was one of our men, the bravo company label stitched onto the neck of his uniform.

_"Cherry, your the medic. Cant you do something?" _ragman asked and unfortunately i already knew the answer.

_"Sorry sarge but i cant do anything. His body is to badly impaled on those stakes. Moving him would put him in even more pain" _Ragman frowned.

_"I see, i understand" _he stepped forward slowly, bowing his head as he approached the injured soldier.

_"Rest easy soldier, help is here" _he looked up and beads of sweat dripped down his creased forehead. He coughed again, the stake through his stomach being driven in even deeper.

_"Ambush..ch-charlie everywhere" _he then slumped forward and was silent again. This time he was dead. We were all silenced for a moment in honor of our brother, even hoss and junior couldn't find something to bicker over.

Then the overwhelming smell of burning metal distracted me. We all turned and wisps of smoke could be seen floating over the sticks of bamboo we stood by. That meant the huey was practically right next to us. We couldn't go through these bamboo as they were too strong but i saw the path past our fallen brother curved to the right, the stone steps must lead to the huey.

_"Come on!" _i urged and started to run, picking up the pace as the smell got even stronger. The others sprinted after me. Down the steps and finally..i saw her.

The huey was in pieces, burning chunks of metal scattered around the clearing; but in the middle was lessa. She looked dead. Her back was to me and she was slumped over in a cocoon of her arms. Her uniform was bare in patches and her pale as moonshine skin shone through, a tinge of redness tainting it. The moon itself looked only upon her and the place was so silent it could drive a man crazy.

I thought she was dead and despite it all i ran to her, i was desperate to bring her back to life if i had to. My boots skidded on the mud beside her and i stopped. Falling to my knees i used my hands to prise her arms away, and she looked up.

I saw something then, something i had never seen before. In a fleeting moment of her eyes meeting mine, a bitter pain swelled inside me and i saw a broken heart shattered into a million pieces.

It was gone too soon but i had seen enough. I had liked her before but for some reason i felt something else now. I wanted to find those broken pieces, every single one of them. If this is what love is, then i want it. Maybe i was wrong..but she needs a hand to hold, and i want to be that hand.

Cherry sat before me, looking into my eyes like he had seen something no one had ever seen before. I was scared, for the first time i could remember since i had left the humans, i actually felt fear. Who was this guy, who could make me feel fear yet something so comforting and good at the same time. The squad had found me, they had found me alive. From behind i heard someone else boots shift forward. Soon he was into the view of my eyes and i watched as hoss shoved cherry out of the way.

I knew what he was going to do before he did, his eyes and mind literally screamed it out for me and i had no choice as he darted forward and placed his lips onto mine. Even though i'd known he would do it, i was still stunned to my core and had to take a moment to regain my composure. Damn that asshole, what does he think he's playing at? His lips moved and i automatically lifted my knee up sharply into his groin, noticing with satisfaction the pain i caused, forcing him to drop to the floor and yell inaudible words.

_"What the hell do you think your doing!" _i screamed.

_"Why did you kick me?!"_

_"As if i wanted your dirty lips on me!"_

_"Yeah right, you want me as much as i want you!" _i narrowed my eyes and really had to push back the urge to beat him senseless.

_"As if, dream on you idiot!" _I could see cherry looked mad, he looked really mad. If he wasn't as self-controlled as he was, he probably would rip hoss's head of; i wasn't sure why he was mad though.

Ragman could tell a fight was brewing, and nipping it in the bud the way only a sergeant does, he forcibly stepped in between hoss and me.

_"Look, we have work to do, we still gotta find the other squad, leave the fighting for when we get back to base and that's an order!"_ i growled but begrudgingly stepped back and folded my arms. Hoss got up and looked away, reloading his gun multiple times.

At ragman's gesture, we started walking down. The moon had gone in and it was lucky the torches were there to guide us. The grass beneath us was pre-trampled on, and i'm guessing that was ragman's lead on the other squad. We kept going onwards in dull silence, leaving me to ponder the moment before. That way cherry had looked at me, what did it mean? I sighed inwardly, i wish melanie was around. She'd at least have something funny to say about it. Speaking of cherry, him and hoss were walking in front behind with junior in between them. Both were taking it in turns to glare menacingly at each other. I almost smiled as it made everything seem like a normal day in base, rather than fighting for survival out in these harsh jungles.

Maybe..no, i refuse to get close to them. Everyone i got close to have hurt me, i wont be hurt again.

_"Do you reckon we're close man?" _junior yawned and stopped temporarily. We stopped and peered at the area ahead. It looked just like everything else. Either made of stone or goddam bamboo. Didn't these vc ever get tired of seeing the same shit over and over.

_"I don't know, it all looks like the same shit to me"_ Suddenly gun-fire blared out into the night. It sounded incredibly close, just up ahead i'd say.

_"That must be them!" _

_"Lets go!" _We sprinted of again, the path spreading out to be much longer than i thought. The walls and trees were marked with imbedded bullets and it wasn't long before we emerged into another clearing.

A quick survey of it showed it was a vc ambush and only one soldier was alive from delta squad. The lieutenant was lying on the ground, behind a tree. Screwing his face up in fear as he was failing to come to terms with death. His eyes flew open once we appeared on the scene. We didn't hesitate to lock on and begin our torrent of bullets. More vc appeared and the battle begun. Three of us were pouring our pent up feelings into our guns, vc falling under captive to the strength of them all. Junior was doing his job as sniper and ragman was crouched beside the lieutenant.

_"Thank god your here! There's a sniper out there somewhere, take him out!" _i noticed how he stayed down. Humans..always expecting others to do the job to save their own hides. Actually i would say there is more than one sniper, due to the amount of close calls we were receiving; i'd defiantly say there was more than one. Junior took them out one by one, and the rest of us wiped the floor with all the dead vc. When the lieutenant was sure the area was clear, he stood up and ran to us.

_"Thank goodness you arrived in time, i thought i was a goner for sure. The pick-up bird is gonna be at the LZ in a few hours, we've got to move it if we want to make it on time"_


	9. Chapter 9- Secrets revealed

_Chapter Nine- Secrets Revealed_

Dawn broke above our heads, spreading its light over the tip of the jungle we ran in, signifying the end to the whole night we had spent running in fear. A fear of being stuck here, abandoned in a run-down war. My feet pounded the ground, the continuous ache renewing itself at every touch of earth. The Vietcong were in close pursuit, determined to kill us with undying hatred in their eyes; fighting for an ideal that they failed to see was wrong.

Then we had to slow, a rickety wooden bridge stretched over the river ahead and the four of us skidded to a halt.

_"__Wheres the lieutenant?!"_

_"__Who cares, lets go!__"_

_"__We can't, he's got the fucking radio!__"_

Man, so much for eating the lieutenants dust, he was slower than all of us. Just then the lieutenants head bobbed above a boulder a few yards away.

_"__Alright, get over that bridge!__"_

We ran one by one, cherry, junior, hoss then me. Ragman stayed and waited for the lieutenant to get close before dropping his guard and hurrying across the slightly swaying bridge.

_"__RPG!__" _Junior cried.

Without warning, as ragman crossed the final few meters a vc appeared from the other side and launched a grenade into our side of the bridge, blowing the wood to pieces. It was lucky ragman jumped automatically and he cleared the bridge, smacking face down into the ground as the lieutenant finally reached the gap.

He turned and valiantly shot the approaching vc. A few fell, and his Beretta clicked as his ammo was depleted.

_"__Oh shit!__" _he raised his hands above his head in surrender, only to be shot in the head. The body fell back into the river, hitting a rock and drenching it with newly formed blood. The radio went with him and floated downstream.

_"__Waste em!__" _ragman roared and we jumped back up, spewing them with hot led. We didn't stop til they all fell and even then the sound of gunfire still resonated in my mind. We sat on our haunches behind a large boulder to confer what to do now.

_"__What now? this is some crazy giant shit man!__" _ragman clutched his head in his hands.

_"__What now? he had the goddam radio!__"_

_"__Just shut up junior, i'm trying to think__"_

_"__Alright, we'll head to the extraction point and hope that the chopper is still on its way, there's nothing else we can do__" _As we reloaded and stood again, i finally noticed the clouds above had broke and rain poured in rivulets down my face and through my hair. Absentmindedly i brushed the hair from my eyes, wondering if we would make it out of this one. Well i would, but if they didn't; well i would be abandoned again. Melanie still wasn't here either.

_"__Man does it ever stop raining in this place__" _cherry too wiped the drops from his face, smearing dirt across his cheeks as he did so. A tint of red shone on his face and i blushed as he turned and caught me watching him.

_'Aw, how cute. Your actually blushing__'_

_'Melanie! your back, finally. I thought you'd abandoned me__'_

_'I wouldn't do that, i just had some business to attend to'_

_'That must have been some pretty interesting business then huh__'_

_'Ohh i see, your mad at me. Oh well, you've got a chopper to catch i see__' _

Ragman and the others stalked of through the trees and i followed behind. Behind a rock-face we treaded in a shallow river, it sat at the bottom of an unusually quiet clearing and nothing above could be seen because of looming greenery. The water itself flooded into my shoes, making each step harder to take as they filled. Again was the feeling of everything being surreal, a calm before a storm. Although we were already in one on the outside. The stretch of river ended at another rock face and the only way was up. We turned and we were ambushed. Now that we could see, we saw a whole mass of vc just sat there on automated machine guns and in crevices of rock face.

_"__Oh..my..god"_

_"__Its an ambush!__" _junior yelled and the vc swung to face us.

_"__You idiot! Run!__" _And so we ran. I couldn't see where we were going as clouds of smoke blew up from grenades and bullets tore up the ground and air. In the split second before junior had opened his big mouth though, i had seen a little pathway in the top-right corner.

_"__We need to get out of here!__"_

_"__Head for the top right!__" _i warned them and heard cherry groan from behind as he was hit by an impending bullet.

_"__I cant walk__"_ i turned and saw he had stopped. What was he trying to pull? i dodged backwards and slid my arm around his waist, pulling him fiercely but not painfully back up the clearing.

_'A little help here melanie?!__'_

_'Oh sure__' _the bullets then stopped aiming for me and cherry as melanie deflected them invisibly.

'Well at least your useful sometimes'

I couldn't see the others nor hear them, but i knew i wouldn't be doing anyone any favors by going back and getting cherry killed. We were the only medic's after all. I mean sure, ragman could do simple first aid; but hoss an junior were a totally different story. Either that or they just liked to inflict pain on themselves. Time dragged on but at some point the smoke around me cleared and i saw i was at the entrance of the little path. Okay, i can do this. The shooting behind ceased a little and ragman and hoss limped up to join us, carrying junior between them. With my sixth sense attuned i noted there were Vietnamese soldiers closing in on both sides of the pathway. Damn, i had to think quickly since the others weren't aware. Cherry's head was hanging loosely and i realized he was unconscious. Peering around to the rock face i suddenly saw a minute crack. Pushing my hand on it, the crack widened until it was enough to fit through into the cave inside. The others still hadn't seen. All right then, time for phase two. I rummaged around in my backpack and pulled out two MK18 red smoke grenades; flipped off the clasps and threw them either side of us. As the smoke filled the air i pushed a unaware cherry inside and gestured to the other three to follow. Hoss came first, pulling junior behind him and ragman last. The smoke started to clear and i hurried to board the crack up with loose rocks, until only a little peep hole remained. Through this i could see the smoke dissipate and the soldiers rushing past without even noticing the rock face. I leaned back onto my feet and breathed a sigh of relief. This would buy us some time at least. Then i could deal with everyone's injuries.

I turned around and placed a finger on my lips, silencing them so that i could speak.

_"__Look, we need to lay low for a little while. We've got injuries to tend to and they need time to heal. Another-wards, a little rest wont do us any harm. The chopper isn't due here for a few hours.__" _i kept my voice at a low whisper and ragman nodded approvingly.

The cave only just about fit the five of us and enough light flitted in from the peep hole to allow us to see. Ragman took care of his own minor bullet wounds and much to hoss's disgust, he dealt with hoss's too. Junior was harder and i had to extract three bullets from both arms and a leg. It was lucky i had a little morphine and after i stuck the needle in he fell straight to sleep. The same with cherry, although he was already asleep. Hoss and ragman lay back and soon i could hear snoring. I lay back for a moment then thought since everyone was asleep maybe i should actually heal cherry's injuries. After all he was unconscious and he wouldn't have known how bad it was anyway and the others would probably not even notice if they faded away. Slowly i got onto my hands and knees, crawling over to cherry so i didn't wake anyone. Throwing out my hands and placing them on his softly rising chest, i stilled as i gathered energy into my palms. White light building as the energy flowed through my hands and into his chest. Spreading through his body to heal his injuries. As the light intensified his breathing got less sharp and his eyes stopped creasing in pain. This was the first time i had used my power to heal on another person, no less a human. I guess war really does change a person, even if its not my war. They'd still been no sign or marissa either. I mean, i know she isn't behind the war but i was brought here for a reason and what else could it be than her? Its not like i had no other purpose in life.

The healing stopped as it was completed and the light begun to fade back into my hands. A sharp intake of breath came from behind me and i swung around as fast as light itself. Hoss was sat upright, staring at me open mouthed like a shock-shelled cat.

_"__W-what was..that?__"_ he gaped and i crawled forward and clasped my hand around his mouth.

_"__Be quiet, you'll wake everyone else up!__"_ i released him as he nodded and sat back on my heels studying him. He took a moment to close his mouth and gather himself some dignity.

_"__On one condition"_ he whispered finally. Oh great, blackmail no doubt. I knew i never should have wasted my energy on that human. Now i had been found out.

_"__What?__" _i snapped.

_"__That you explain, what are you?__"_Huh? that was what he wanted?. Well, i guess i have no choice.

_"__Fine..but not here__" _he turned his head.

_"__Where do you propose then? the enemy is outside, in case you have forgotten__"_

_"__My house__" _I never thought i'd be saying that one, but i knew the humans wouldn't be there so it was an ideal place. I didn't actually know how to teleport there but melanie was speaking for me. Without will, she used my own hand to grab his and pulled the both of us away in a flash of white light.

When my senses finally came to, i was standing outside of a brick house; rain drops sliding down the gutter above. To my left was Lessa, she was inserting a key into the door of the house and after it twisted, she pushed it open with one hand. She then turned to face me.

_"__Well? do you need a written invitation or what?__" _she was being sarcastic so i'm guessing that she's mad.

_"__Sorry, its just traveling between realms makes me a bit sick_" she apologized upon seeing the look i wore.

_"__Its fine, i don't feel so good myself__"_

_"__Well don't go throwing up on my front door, kay?__" _I smiled.

_"__Sure thing__" _I stepped through the open door and onto the steps. My trousers dragging on the carpet of the stairs, dripping water everywhere. I myself had come from a farmhouse an i'd never really been in a house that had carpet. I tried to lift my legs higher to avoid soaking the carpet but only fell backwards into Lessa who was making her way up the steps.

_"__Ow, watch what your doing. You don't need to worry about the damn carpet. Its had worse than your boots all over it__"_

_"__Oh, right. Of course__" _Five more steps and i reached the top. Two rooms lay straight ahead, another to my left. The one to my left must be a bathroom as it has a toilet in there. The first room ahead looks like a kitchen and the other had seats so i assumed it to be the living room or whatever the city people called it.

_"__Just go sit in the living room, ill be in a second__" _She pushed past and walked into the kitchen, kicking of her boots as she went. I did what she said and stepped into the living room, plonking myself onto the nearest sofa. In terms of how places go, this place didnt seem to shabby. It was better by far than my old ma's farmhouse thats for sure. I looked around, taking in the pale blue walls and dark curtains that were drawn across a large window. The two blue, long seats; and the fluffy blue carpet. It seemed whoever had decorated this place really liked the colour blue. I pulled of my own boots as lessa reappeared, grimacing as i saw the tattered state of my grey colored socks.

Lessa frowned too and placed the two red towels she carried onto a table stood opposite me.

_"__We need to get out of this wet clothes, here, take this towel and go have a shower__" _She lifted up one of the towels and threw it to me. I clumsily caught it and stood awkwardly as i pondered how i would ask her.

_"__Well, what are you waiting for? You know where the bathroom is__" _i shifted my feet on the floor nervously.

_"__Well...i don't exactly know what a shower is__" _Her mouth dropped open in a wide 'o'.

_"__W-what! my god, i know your from the past and all but really. Gosh, i didn't know you wouldn't know what a shower was. I guess i'll just have to show you__" _She folded her arms and tutted. My interest perked up, was she going to have a shower with me!? Apparently she could read minds as her eyes narrowed and glared at me.

_"__No, i will not be having a shower with you. What gave you such an idea. I'll have one after you and then i'll explain__" _Oh right, of course. And here was me thinking i was going to get lucky. She turned of her heel and stalked of to the bathroom, me following meekly behind. Once we stood in the bathroom i realized it was bigger than it looked from the outside. Behind the door was a tub and above it some kind of lever thing with a pole that had lots of mini holes at the top.

_"__This is a shower__" _she pointed towards the pole thing with the holes.

_"__Water comes out when you turn the lever, and you wash in it__" _It was really that simple? "Well, ill leave you to it. I'll put some clothes outside the door, call if you need me"

After i had my own shower we sat down in the front room. On the table i had placed some coffee for hoss, and milk for me. I laughed inwardly for the fifth time as i looked over the clothes i had given him to wear. They were my stepfathers and he didn't have very good taste. Brown jeans and a grey t-shirt, although i must say he filled them out quite well. I guess underneath all the camo, had been a heck of a lot of muscle.

_"__Well, are you going to tell me now__?" _hoss asked, taking a sip of coffee from the ceramic mug. Well then, he asked for it.

_"__I'm a witch, from the future of your time. About 44 years into the future to be exact. I stumbled across your world by chance since i'm looking for someone__" _That was all i was going to tell him, i couldn't risk telling him anymore; i would have to kill him if i did. For some unfathomable reason, he didn't look surprised.

_"I always knew there was something different about you__" _huh, well that wasn't what i was expecting.

_"__Yeah, i mean for a start. A women in the marines, defiantly odd. When i saw you healing cherry, i wasn't exactly surprised__"_

_"__So why make a big deal out of it then?__"_

_"__I just wanted to hear the truth__"_

_"__Oh__" i gazed out of the window, noticing the red sky of sunset. "__Well, i think we should stay here the night. We could use the rest after all, i've missed the luxuries of the future__"_

_"__Wait, what about the chopper? we'll miss it!"_

_"__No, you wont. Time doesn't pass in your world like it does here. I'd explain it to you but its quite complicated. Not for your human ears to say the least__"_

_"__Melanie!__" _i hadn't planned on telling him about Melanie but it seemed the cat was out of the bag now, as the goddess herself was leaning against the living room door.

_"__The name's Shiva; ice goddess, lessa calls me Melanie. I'm her spirit guide and that's all you need to know__" _she explained quickly.

_"__Well, that's one way to introduce yourself__" _i said sarcastically.

_"__On second thoughts, staying the night sounds fun, can we go to bed now?!__" _Melanie chuckled.

_"__Sure, you can have my parents bed. They don't need it anymore__" _He walked hurriedly out of the room and into my parents bedroom, eager to get away from the things he didn't understand. Wish i could do the same.

_"__Its time you went to bed as well lessa__"_

_"__Yeah, yeah. I'm going__" _i pulled the duvet of the sofa and crawled into a warm cocoon of fluffiness as i drifted into the dreamworld.

From the door, melanie watched with a smile.


	10. Chapter 10- Chopper down!

_Chapter Ten- Chopper down!_

The sunlight peeked through the curtained window, beginning the start of the second day i had been home. The sun burned my eyes and i thought to myself about how this was the last time i would see the sun here. We had to leave for Vietnam today, i know time didn't pass much in that world compared to mine but it still would have been a couple of hours by now. I could already hear hoss's clunky combat boots pacing the tiled floor of the kitchen.

_"No point holding it of any longer lessa"_

_"I know melanie__" _i peeled the cover from my body and swung my legs of the bed. I wasn't afraid, it was just getting a little tiring. Why should i be fighting with these easily-disposed of soldiers when i had my own problems to contend with. Something was keeping me there though and i had yet to discover what, maybe its the reason melanie speaks of with so much secrecy.

_"Are you honestly still sleeping?" _hoss yelled from the kitchen. I rolled my eyes.

_"I'm coming, i'm coming. jeez"_

_"I'm growing a beard here!"_

_"Oh very funny__" _melanie handed me my uniform and decently left the room. Slipping it on, it seemed tighter. I think it must have shrunk in the wash, gosh if mine's shrunk i hate to think whats happened to hoss's. Leaving the room and entering the kitchen confirmed my worst fears. The uniform had defiantly shrunk in the wash. Involuntarily i chuckled to myself, at least i wasn't the only one. The uniform looked tight enough to choke him. Reminded me of a skull suit, an experimental fabric that pushed on all your organs to make them perform better. Maybe it would work that way instead of killing him, or maybe not.

_"Hey, whats so funny?" _he demanded.

_"Huh? oh, nothing" _from the corner melanie winked at me.

_"Hey, don't encourage her! You women, honestly"_

_"Excuse me__?" _he'd done it now, when melanie went of on one, she really outdoes herself. I swabbed a few cookies and a glass of milk, smiling vaguely at their mindless chattering.

_"Hey mama, look at all those people. They're really happy yet their only talking__" _She turned to me and smiled, her mouth curving gracefully and her eyes twinkling with the light of stars.

_"Well sweetie, its the simplest things in life that make you happy__" _i thought about it for a moment, watching the people below us chattering and laughing, almost all were smiling with their eyes, genuinely happy. None had mama's eyes but they were happy just like she was.

_"Simplest?" _

_"Yes, like laughing and smiling. All the things that create a bond between a person, that's what they call love"_

_"Do we have that bond mama?" _she laughed heartily, her wavy dark hair cascading around her heart shaped face, each strand of hair shaking as she laughed. Then she stopped and looked me dead in the eyes, the yellow burning into me.

_"Of course we do silly, i love you more than anything"_

_"Even brother?" _her mouth stopped curving and became a straight line.

_"No, i love you both the same. I cannot love one child more than the other, that wouldn't be fair to set now, would it?"_

_"But why not__?" _i was sure she loved me more than set, he was always out with some girl marissa, he followed her like a lost puppy. She was 13 and he was 10 so i don't think he could be her boyfriend. Mama always said age doesn't matter though. Mama always spent time with me, reading to me and brushing my hair. I loved it when she brushed my hair, it gave a funny tingly feeling inside. Mama would always laugh when i told her that and then she would tickle me till i begged her to stop.

_"Well because, your both my children. I love you equally no matter what happens, okay?" _i pouted.

_"Okay mama. Can i ask you something?"_

_"Of course dear, anything"_

_"Well, how come set is never happy. You love him but i never see him smile or laugh__" _and it was true, whenever he was home, he would always glare at us and sneak away from the table to avoid talking to any of us. For a second i thought i saw a tear well in mama's eye but i blinked and it was gone. I must have imagined it.

_"Well sweetie, he's just different that's all. He's happy inside but he doesn't show it"_

_"But why not?"_

_"That's just the way he is" _mama took my hand in hers and lifted me onto her shoulders so i could have a better view of the people below.

_"You know, i always remember a saying my mama told me when i was younger. It went 'Love will always win and bad will always sin, that's the way its always been' when i felt threatened, i would chant it to myself over and over. It always made me feel safer somehow. What it means is, if you love someone then nothing can stop that just like a truly evil person will always do wrong and nothing can change that"_

_"But i thought you said there were no truly evil people, that everyone had a little bit of good in them"_

_"Well, i was wrong. Some people out there are truly evil, may the gods forbid you ever meet one" _mama wrong? that's never happened before, something must be wrong.

_"Lessa, just promise me something?" _i looked up from the people below.

_"Yes mama?"_

_"Promise me that if you ever meet a truly evil person, you will run. Never try to fight them, being too pure can sometimes be a weakness against a person like that. For they have no mercy and they are cold-blooded killers, slaughtering everything in their path"_

_"Okay mama, i promise to run away if i ever meet one. But how will i know if they are one?"_

_"You will sense it deep in your being, if darkness fills your heart then you know one is nearby"_

_"Okay mama"_

_"Good, you are the world's only hope__"_ she whispered quietly, but i still heard her words. I wondered what they meant.

_"Are we ready to go then?"_

_"Ready to puke more like, this portal stuff sure is violent to my insides__" _again i rolled my eyes.

_"Well get over it, there isn't any other way" _he groaned but put out his hand anyway.

_"You kids have fun now" _melanie smiled impishly, knowing full well she didn't have to go through the traumas of portal traveling.

_"I'm not a kid goddammit" _

_"Oh sure, just get going already. I'll be there later on" _she leaned against the door frame, a favorite pastime of hers. Her bright blue aura radiating from the glass pane. From the way hoss looked anywhere but her i could tell he still wasn't used to her appearances.

_"And..3..2..1" _a switch of white light enveloped us again and my insides became a squished mass as we hurtled through realms themselves.

Then a door opened and we fell into the cave, barely missing the sleeping squad members at the back of the cave. The thud echoed of the walls but surprisingly they did not wake.

_"Oof" _whoops, it seemed hoss had cushioned my fall.

_"Sorry__"_ i untangled myself from him and sat up scanning the cave. Everything was the same way as it had been when we left. I shuffled over and placed my eye to the crack, where bright sunlight poured in, i would say it was about midday now.

_"Any guards?" _hoss asked from the back.

_"No, not that i can see" _just a few goats lazily milling around. One sat just outside of the entrance, chewing thoughtfully on a tuft of grass.

Just then the ground shook as a helicopter flew directly overhead, the gust of wind was enough to force the rocks away from the crack i had used them to border it up with. A hatch was opened and some sort of bomb dropped, shaking the cave itself, more fell and soon the earth was quaking beneath us. From the back the other three woke up with a start.

_"Whats going on__!?"_ i grabbed my gun from my shoulder and pointed it to the newly exposed entrance.

_"We've gotta get out of here now__!" _scrambling to grab their equipment we cautiously departed from the cave, guns facing all directions, just in time too as the entrance itself collapsed as another bomb exploded nearby.

_"Lets go, lets go!" _with no time to waste we ran upwards, away from the area we had originally come from. The path widened as we hit another clearing, and the bombs dropping seemed to lessen slightly. Unfortunately though, this clearing just happened to a maze of dug in trenches commanded by the vc, boy were they surprised to see us.

_"This really is some deep shit huh sarge"_

_"Just keep shooting__" _i switched the clasp to single shot so as to conserve ammo and shot as we ran. We stopped as we came up against a gap where a tunnel sat below. A gate closed the other end of the tunnel that led under the rock face itself, the way we needed to go.

_"What now?!"_

_"We wait for them to call reinforcements, as soon as the gate opens we jump down and run past them, you hear me!?"_

_"Yes sarge!"_

_"Isn't that a bit dangerous?!"_

_"Shit junior, you wanna live forever__" _live dangerously i say, sounds like excitement. Soldiers from the NVA burst out from all the tunnels that lay before us, as we waited for the tunnel gate to open. They sure were taking their sweet time. As luck would have it, when it came to reloading pauses, no one had to reload at the same time so we had continuous fire against them. Another bomb dropped and caused the ground to dent beside us, we were running out of time.

_"Just fucking go for it!" _hoss yelled, shooting wildly at the emerging vc.

_"We need to wait__!" _ragman ordered.

_"Gedin gedin!" _

_"Their calling for backup!"_

_"Any moment now__.." _i dared to take my eyes of the vc for a moment and spied the gate opening from the corner of my eye as more vc barreled through.

_"Go__!" _ignoring the multiple vc that fired at my back as i leapt down into the trench tunnel, i tossed aside the newcomers and escaped into the tunneled cave. It was dark and hard to see, so it was a shock when more people brushed past me, i flung out my fists, landing one on the mystery figures.

_"Hey, hey, its me lessa, damn!"_

_"Cherry?, crap i'm sorry!" _my eyes adjusted to the darkness and i could see him clearly clutching his nose, whilst the other three stood nearby. On guard as the vc struggled to find us.

_"Its fine" _a ball of blood welled up from between his fingers.

_"I don't think it is__"_ i said doubtfully and hurried to pull a bandage from my backpack. I handed it to him and he gratefully replaced his hands with the bandage, blood spurting from his nose.

_"Well, you sure have a hell of a right hook" _i laughed nervously.

_"Yeah.."_Ragman turned from his outlook on the door and his gaze panned over the length of the tunnel, splitting into left and right some meters away.

_"We don't have time for this, that chopper's gonna be here soon"_

_"Damn straight, i'm too short for this shit"_ cherry tied the bandage under his nose and around his head to prevent the bleeding and after a quick check of our ammo supplies we were off again. The tunnel didn't last long and we were soon assaulted by the sunlight and greenery of trees and leaves.

No vc were in sight and a gate was situated to the right. It too was made from bamboo, seemingly a main resource around here. I'm guessing either a village or a base was on the other side. However a way to get in could not be seen.

_"Gedin gedin!" _the yell came from behind and swinging around, a soldier seemed to come up through the ground. I shot him down in an instant and dashed to the area he came from.

Just as i thought, a tunnel lay hidden under the mound of ground and led straight under the gate of bamboo.

_"Hey guys, i found a way in!" _as i gestured for them to come over, a sudden blast of wind assaulted us and a helicopter rushed overhead.

_"Its the chopper!" _it flew low over the village and bells started to ring.

_"Come on, it ain't gonna wait forever!" _we descended into the tunnel and on the other side of the gate were a whole bunch of huts. It was a base rather than a village if the AA gun sat in the middle of the huts had anything to say about it.

_"They got AA guns in there!" _Way to point out the obvious cherry. Soldiers swarmed out from the huts and one started up the AA gun in the middle, from the background another one started up in harmony with the first. We were helpless to do nothing but watch as the helicopter was shot full on and fell downwards, crash landing half a mile away into the trees.

_"Ah crap, are we ever gonna get out of here"_

_"Quit your whining, we'll assemble at the crash site"_

_"Seems that's all we ever do"_

_"Too damn right"_

_"I said quit it!" _The soldiers turned their utmost attention to us and we had a full-scale madness on our hands.

"It don't mean a thing!" round after round, they just kept coming. Staying outside was hopeless, if we had any chance of getting to that crash site, we had to get around the gate again. If i was right, looking at the layout of the base, one of the huts to the left side must lead a way out the back and into the jungle again. The one closest to the gate was furthest away on the left side and curved around to accommodate my guess. I stormed forward, killing as many that decided to get in my way. The others looked confused but nevertheless followed my lead and advanced forward onto my position.

_"In here__!" _i told them when they reached me. Inside the hut was dry and warm, orange light bouncing from the corners. The soldiers had slipped and momentarily had no idea of where we were. That still didn't give us much time. We marched on around the curved corner, a door lay at the end.

We stopped at ragman's hand.

_"What do you think's outside?"_

_"Another AA gun i would assume, there was another one that shot down the chopper, keep on your guard. Grenades on the ready"_

_"Aw shit, those motherfuckers ain't no match for us, i don't know why you worry so much__" _hoss snorted contemptuously and clunked forward, booting the door open in one swift kick.

As if to spite him, an AA gun pounded bullets into the door and hoss was forced to leap backwards to avoid to the mass of bullets.

_"You want some? come get some!" _he sprang up after the initial shock and ripped of a grenade clasp with his teeth. Dodging into the doorway he lobbed it, then ducked. Two seconds later the whole thing blew up in a flash of fire.

_"See, i told you" _he turned and grinned before pegging it out the door. We hotfooted it after him out of the gate's doorway and back into the jungle again. Smoldering metal could be smelt and black smoke rose in the air ahead. Hoss was almost on par with the crashed chopper.

_"I see it__!" _he stopped and turned, waiting for us to catch up. A rustle of leaves and,

_"RPG!"_


	11. Chapter 11- Into the fire

_Chapter Eleven- Into the fire_

_"You idiot hoss! you could have gotten us killed!" _

_"Yeah, your just lucky that vc had a crap aim" __After the RPG had been fired and the smoke had cleared, we found the huey and two dead bodies burnt to a crisp. It seemed that, as usual, there were no survivors._

_"Aw well, that's just fucking great"_

_"This shit just ain't funny any more" __As usual junior was complaining. _

_"Hey wait" __cherry held up his hand to silence us. __"You hear that?"_

_"Its a radio!"_

_"Where!? Where the fuck is it?" _

_"We gotta find that radio!" __We split into all directions, hunting by the sound of a distant voice. I searched under the smoldering huey but no radio was to be seen. I suppose it couldn't be close to the huey because it would have exploded with it if that was the case._

_"Its here man! i found it!" __hoss held up the radio triumphantly a few meters away from the huey. We rushed over and gathered around the half burnt radio._

_"Roger that, confirmed napalm strike at co-ordinates 10:32"_

_"10:32? th-thats here! there gonna blow this whole fucking place out with napalm!"_

_"Fuck!" __hoss dropped it and stomped on it, crushing it into minute pieces._

_"Hoss man, what the hell!"_

_"We could have used that!" __ragman turned and faced the path we'd just come from, leading into the village._

_"Too late for that now, we gotta get out of here before this whole place lights up like the fourth of july" _

_We turned and ran back down the path just as napalm planes flew overhead._

_"Shit man, we're gonna get fried!" __One swerved until it hovered above the village, the hatch slided open and the shell dropped. We stopped just outside the gate and just in time too as the whole thing exploded, a massive wave of fire washing through, obliterating everything in its path. The plane swerved again and flew behind the other one, circling back for its next attack._

_"Their not finished! Keep going__!" ragman roared over the whoosh of fire as it died out. We picked up the pace again, slipping through the village gate. I tried not to look up as the napalm swooped overhead again. Cries of outraged vc tore through the air and troops of them appeared from both sides of the village._

_"RPG__!" i heard someone cry and automatically dropped to the floor. It missed by inches and dented the roofless hut nearby. Sliding the rifle of my shoulders i turned and swiped the air with bullets, the vc troops dropped instantly._

_'Head shot'_

_'Melanie, that wasn't really necessary'_

_"Get down! there coming back__!" then i heard no more as the sound of drones flooded my ears. From behind someone dropped down onto me and the air boomed as another shell exploded. The roar seemed to explode in my brain itself and fire stormed before my eyes. I rolled continuously as did the person covering me, trying to vanquish the flames that beat my body. _

_'fire...' __spoke the voice inside me, enjoying the mass of flames that engulfed us all. My consciousness was lost within the fire and i no longer had feeling in my body. I was one with the sea of flames. I flew along with them, burning everything it came upon. When i came to my own body i moved, dragging the flames away from the cowering people on the ground. The feeling dissipated as the fire turned to mere cinders that fed on the bamboo and clothing of dead vc. Coming to consciousness i heard yet another shell drop and hit the ground. The fire renewed and the last thing i heard was,_

_"Keep rolling!" __ragman's fruitless efforts to keep his squad alive. I was torn in half, the part of me that was fire, and the new person that lay on the ground beneath another body. I was not alone in the fire, i could feel an invisible presence that would not come close enough to be identified. _

_Again the feeling didn't last long as the fire died into embers, everything dies in the end. I sensed the drones speeding away and then all i saw was blackness._

_"Lessa?" __the voice swam through my mind and a black figure danced foggily in my view._

_"Huh__?" i pushed through the pins and needles that invaded my arms and legs and sunk my hands into the charred ground, propping myself to a sitting position._

_"I'm here, are you okay?" __my eyes narrowed and the figure became cherry._

_"Cherry?"_

_"Yeah its me, you passed out. I guess that fire affected you pretty bad" __that caught my attention._

_"W-what do you mean!?" __he tilted his head, a look of bemusement on his face._

_"You passed out from the heat of it, i thought you were running a fever; your head was burning up so much" __phew, he didn't know then. My view cleared and i panned my eyes across the area. All the hut were black as night, the roofs blown of. Patches of burnt limbs filled the ground and the other three sat beside us, blowing on their reddened skin. Their clothes were torn and black, same as cherry's._

_"Thank goodness everyone's okay__" a feeling of joy overwhelmed me and i darted forward into cherry ,wrapping my arms around his waist; burrowing my head into the dip of his neck. I felt him stiffen in shock and then loosen. His arms came up around me and pulled me closer to him. I wasn't sure what i was feeling, only that it felt right. One hand sat in my hair, tugging through the nest of strands that were stuck together. A different, more relaxing warmth radiated from him and spread into my limbs, making them feel like jelly. _

_"Ahem__!" a forced cough from ragman was what broke us apart. Jerking my head away from cherry, i saw the other guys were frozen, watching us with different expressions. Junior looked amused and winked when he caught me looking, hoss looked sickened and ragman looked awkward._

_"It ain't over yet you know" __he informed us, bringing me back to a set mind of reality. What the hell was i doing?! _

_"Your right, sorry" __cherry dropped his arms and looked ashenly at the ground. I stepped back and regarded him with suspicion. _

_"Well then..lets go shall we__?" ragman nodded his head in the bottom right of the village where the jungle opened up again. _

_"Hoss, cherry, i want you up front with me. Junior, lessa, your rear guard okay?" _

_"Yes sarge__!" came our four reply's. I took my position up by junior, standing a couple metres behind the other three. Cherry still had his head to the ground and hoss stalked on without looking._

_"Soo, you got a thing for cherry have you?" __junior remarked casually, only loud enough for me to hear. It seemed that ragman was now engaging cherry in a conversation but for some reason i could not hear it. As we walked i glanced sideways at junior._

_"No__!" i answered indignantly._

_"Honestly though, you guys should get together__" he continued regardless of what i'd just said._

_"No we shouldn't!" __he turned and watched me with a grin in his eye._

_"Is this just because he's a virgin? because if so i could give you some pointers on how to break him into it__" junior winked mischievously._

_"What! no__!" i cried, aware a blush was now creeping up my cheeks.__ "Look, i don't like him and there's no way he likes me"_

_"Oh he does, just look. He cant stop looking at you" __sure enough, i peeked upwards through my hair and spotted cherry looking at me. He blushed when he saw me and turned back to the front again. Oh..maybe he does._

_"Well..so what! We're not getting together, no way!" __I cant fall for a human, not those weak creatures. Besides i have a mission to do, i cant risk getting sidetracked..even if i do like him. ARGH! dammit melanie! you knew this was going to happen._

_'Maybe i did, maybe i didn't' _

_"Gedin__!" huh? from down the path, vc soldiers suddenly dived in on us and we were in no condition to defend ourselves. We all abandoned all previous thoughts and took to our guns, but it was already clear we were at a disadvantage. These vc were fresh out to boot, fully stocked; and not weary from fighting. _

_Regardless we fought. Two rifles, two machine guns, and a sniper. Bullets and grenades came from all sides._

_As the smoke cleared from the most recent grenade, i heard a yell and turned to see junior fall to the ground; blood dripping from his chest._

_"Shit__!" hoss was next, then ragman. Soon it was just me and cherry, the only medic's_.

_ Left to fight what seemed like the entirety of the war itself. We couldn't turn, we couldn't stop, or we would be the next to fall._

_"Goddam, don't these vc ever run out of ammo!?" __i yelled over the roar of bullets._

_"Well i don't know about them, but i'm certainly getting low on ammo"_ _Cherry stopped to reload and the vc took their chance, a sniper shot him full on in the chest and everything seemed to go in slow motion as he fell._

_"Cherry!" __I cried but it was too late, he too had fallen victim to their assault. Only I could stop them from dying now, and I had just what I needed. A dose of pure anger, I would get my revenge!_

_Energy started to bubble underneath my skin and an attack I had never heard of came to mind. I co-erced it into my palms and the vc dropped their guns and watched in astonishment as the bullets bounced away from my crackling white energy field._

_"Now you've done it, I'll get my revenge on you bastards__" I drifted upwards of my own accord, much to the horrified looks on their pinched faces._

_The energy filled within my palms, completing the final thing i needed for my attack._

_"White-FIRE__!" i screamed and flung my palms down at them, the energy crushing their boneless spines as it expanded and ripped, rushing to fill the land below with its flames. _

_Melanie was already one step ahead of me and without question, had moved the bodies of the members of my squad. All of whom were unconscious but still breathing if the information she was relaying to me was anything to go by._

_It did nothing to soften my anger though, as their bodies combusted; forcing them up into the air. I was overcome by rage and pummeled each skull with my fists, smashing each mindless brain into mush. Tearing the thread of life away from them, the thing that still gave me much pleasure. _

_Without being told however, i sensed a change of two. I had become a new person, and a person had become me. _

_The energy faded and panting hard as my energy depleted, i lowered myself down to the leveled ground. The trees had been ripped away and round the corner was a hut. Devoid of vc._

_"I'd keep that place in mind, it may be useful" _

_"R-right..sure thing__" i pushed my hands down onto my knees, the only thing left to keep me standing. Melanie lowered herself down and placed the four bodies gently onto the earth. _

_"Well done lessa"_

_"Huh?"_

_"That attack, you'd never tried it before. Yet it worked perfectly. You are one of two people who have been able to do that"_

_"Who was the first?"_

_"The first fire goddess, its was her trademark attack__" my curiosity spiked._

_ "So what happened to her?" _

_"She chose her child to become the next fire goddess and went to sleep for eternity" __Seems a bit extreme, leaving the child with all that burden. Poor kid._

_"And what happened to the child__?" Melanie looked askance, watching the fluttering wings of a brave butterfly._

_"She fell from the stars in an accident, no one knows where she is now" __Gosh, to fall from your home. What if the child never found where she belonged. Why was i even bothered so much._

_"H-how old would that child be now__?" melanie continued to watch the butterfly, a look of unknown remorse tainting her shimmering features._

_"In earth years..i'd say about 16,17? As for star years, well there is no time in the stars" _

_"Oh..i see" _

_"L-lessa?" __melanie turned ashen and disappeared, retaining her place back into my head._

_'Its cherry, he's awake'_

_'I know'_

_'How long for though?'_

_'Who knows..' __I took a deep breath and crouched beside him, his eyes half open. I placed a hand on his head and noted it was burning. _

_'I think he's coming down with a fever'_

_When i felt her hand on my forehead, concern evident in her voice, i suddenly felt a whole lot better. Despite the throbbing pain in my side and the burning heat everywhere, my heart beat a little faster and i smiled inside. _

_My eyes closed again, tired-ness was overcoming me. Somehow, somewhere, i heard others stirring and low voices muttering words i could not decipher._

_In a last ditch attempt to hear her voice once more, i strained my ears and a few words flitted in._

_"He's coming down with a fever, he needs to rest" __that was her, the concern raising her tone just that little bit higher._

_"Well where do you propose we rest too?" __i wasn't sure but it sounded like ragman._

_"There's a deserted hut around the corner, i'd say its suited just for that purpose"_

_"Alright, junior you take hoss, i'll carry cherry"_


	12. Chapter 12- Fuck the war

_Chapter Twelve- "Fuck the war"_

_The days and nights passed by meaninglessly, no sign of the vc since the attack._

_I yawned as i shrugged of the weight of sleepiness and reached for the pot of cool water and a cloth. Soaking the cloth in the cool water, i squeezed it and placed it onto cherry's forehead. This was the fourth time today and it was all i could do over the past few days to try and help cherry break his fever. After the attack, cherry had fallen unconscious, lost in his own fever. He had shown signs of recovery, sometimes becoming half conscious and muttering incoherent words, others he lay sleeping. We couldn't feed him either, at best all we could do was get him to swallow some water._

_My eyes half closed and i had to blink repeatedly to keep them open. I wish i could think of a cure for his fever. I dozed again and a memory washed through my mind._

_"Hey lessa! whats that you got there__?" i scribbled furiously into my book, trying to recap all the plants i had studied last night in melanie's herbology lesson. I didn't noticed i was being watched until a black shadow loomed over the tip of my page._

_"Huh__?" i turned and saw Mae, the school's biggest bully, she hated me with a passion. I scrambled to cover the page with my hands but with one swift grab, she had ahold of both my wrists. Behind her stood her cronies, a gang of four girls, dressed to leave nothing to the imagination. Mae loosened her grip and pushed me into crony number one, who instantly retook a hold of me; the other girls standing ominously behind. The known threat hung in the air, if i tried to make a run for it, they would take me down. Damn._

_Mae grinned wickedly and picked up my notebook with two fingers, holding it at a distance as though it displeased her greatly. _

_"Hmm..Valerian root, ginseng...what the hell is this?" _

_"U-uh__" i couldn't help but tremble, i was already branded as a freak. If they were confirmed of the fact i was a witch..my life would be even more of a living hell than it was now._

_"I know what it is, Its witchcraft! You are a witch!" __her voice was certainly not quiet, already other students were gathering, even teachers who came to see what all the commotion was._

_"N-no i'm not!" melanie, where are you! _

_"She's a witch__!" i heard someone cry, and once again the cry started up. Just as malicious as usual except even more so now that they had proof._

_"Witch! Witch! Witch__!" the girl let me go, as if afraid to touch me; and soon the chant came from all directions. Everywhere i turned, mouths opened; to cry the word witch and glare at me. The hate in their eyes, they wanted me dead._

_Tears pricked at my eyes and my face burned with fear and anger. I lost control, something snapped; i darted forward and rammed into the crowd of students in front, pushing my way through until a space cleared; their fury giving the air a linger of blood brought to the surface. I didn't stop running even when i left the school, i couldn't even if i wanted to. I would run until i died._

_Yes! that's it! Valerian root, ginseng. Both and more would break cherry's fever and make him better again. And if i was right, the Vietnamese jungle would be the perfect place for plants like that to grow. Oh, it was too good to be true. Never thought i'd say it but thank goodness for herbology._

_Over the past few days i had thought about what melanie had said, i thought about all the moments me and cherry had as i worried sick for his safety. I couldn't kid myself that i was just doing my duty as medic, it was something more. Was this what the human's called love? The way how i could still feel his fingers brushing my face, his arms wrapped around me, his scent. I'm not sure about anything anymore, all i do know is he's changed me; and that i have now split into two. The part that loves cherry and is going to fight this war..and the part that wouldn't hesitate to kill everything in its path and wants nothing but revenge as an antidote to pain. _

_Well, all that mattered now was cherry's health, i had to get those plants!_

_"Lessa? are you okay?" _

_"mm__?" looking down, i realized what their concern was. In the eagerness of my thoughts i had stopped soaking his forehead in midair, the cloth slowly dripping plods of water onto the wooden floorboards. _

_"Ah, i'm fine" __Ragman looked up from his position at the door and seeing i was still awake, he turned away again, unconcerned. Junior didn't bother to be torn away from his cigar and it was only hoss that questioned me. Hmm, hoss..he would be a bit of a problem to get past. I know he's aware i'm a witch and all but if i tell him i'm going out to collect plants he'll want to come and it'll raise ragman and juniors suspicion. I had an idea.._

_"I was thinking, i really could use a wash. There's a river nearby so i was thinking i should probably go before it gets dark, do you mind__?" not that i could care for his opinion anyway. I was going with or without permission.I returned the cloth back to cherry's forehead and stood up, making for the door. Ragman automatically rolled over and nodded an approval at me. _

_I was within meters of the door before he stopped me. His hands clamping around my wrist. An urge sprung up to beat him senseless and it took all restraint to force it back down again._

_"What?"_

_"Where are you going really? that river story is bullshit!" __i could kill him, i really could._

_'I wouldn't if i was you, i know ragman's not exactly fond of him but its not gonna get you in anyone's good books. Maybe lesh's but that's not the point'_

_'Melanie?! oh good, you're back then'_

_'Yes, plant-searching time i hear'_

_'Yeah, only just thought about it'_

_'Well, someone has to'_

_"Look man, let her go. She needs some privacy" __junior flicked his cigar from his fingers onto the floor and flattened it with his boot before stepping towards us._

_Hoss scowled at him before reluctantly letting go of his grip. _

_"Look lessa, i just want you to be safe; that's all" __his eyes softened. I sighed deeply__._

_"I'll be fine, just let me go okay?"_

_"Okay, fine" __he dropped his hands to his side. I nodded and set foot onto the doorstep, junior retreated back to his seat and ragman looked away knowingly. _

_"Wait" _

_"What now__?" i sighed once more and turned, thoroughly resigned to the fact that it was going to be beyond dark before i even left at this rate. He stepped forward and i already know what he was going to do. There was nothing else for it but to play along. I tilted up my head and closed my eyes, and sure enough his lips were soon on mine. My lips moved of their own accord and it was only when he tried to free his tongue did i break it. He leaned in again but i pushed my hands into his chest, keeping him at arms length._

_"Look, i have to go now, okay?" __he blinked and then nodded with a slight jerk of his head. I walked, each step increasing in pace, not looking behind as i headed for the jungle._

_Hoss watched for a few moments before retiring back into the hut. One hand touching his lips, a dreamy look on his face._

_"Man, your obsessed with her__" junior said bemusedly, picking up another cigar and lighting it._

_"Okay valerian root, found__" i bent and tugged on the root half-hidden in the ground. It came loose and on inspection it was big enough to do the job._

_"For restful sleep, right?"_

_"Yeah, it will help him recover better" __Melanie drifted alongside me, acting as inspector to make sure i didn't mess this up. She held out a mortar and pestle, embroided in stone with flames around its edge._

_"I thought you might need this" _

_"Thanks, interesting design__" i dropped the root of Valerian in and continued my search for more plants among the sodden earth._

_"It is, isn't it. It was the first fire goddess's__" i stopped._

_"Then, why do you have it?"_

_"Because she didn't need it in her sleep"_

_"Oh, right. Of course" __That wasn't what i meant though. In terms of elements, they hated each other. So why did she have her possessions? Melanie must have more secrets than i thought, however; i really should concentrate on herb picking for now._

_I spotted an orange sprig pushing up through the ground beside me._

_"Ginseng to break his fever, do you think we need anything else__?" melanie plucked the ginseng root and placed it on top of the Valerian._

_"I don't think so, i mean. Ginger would be good but it doesn't really grow here as such" Well, i guess we're done here then, time to grind it into a liquid._

_"Your gonna need water to do that remember?"_

_"I know, why do you think we're by the river in the first place__" i crouched beside the flowing water and scooped some of its crystal clearness into the mortar. The roots floated to the top and after a few seconds, bubbled and disintegrated. I took the pestle and swilled it around gently, the plants now becoming infused with the water, turning it a murky brown. I cant say it was something i would drink, but it would help cherry that was for sure._

_Its time i returned back to the hut._

_The area was dark and strangely all lights in the hut were out when i returned. My guard was instantly raised and i subconsciously traced a finger around the grooving of the pistol i carried in my holster. Melanie disappeared and i edged cautiously around the skirting of the hut, coming to the opened doorway. Inside was silence, not even a single breath was taken. _

_One step forward into the hut was all it took, i heard the click of two beretta's and a lamp flickered to life. Across the room were my three squad members, each pointing a gun at me. The potion slopped to a side as i stepped forward again._

_"Guys, what the hell?" __astonishment and relief registered on hoss's face and he dropped the beretta swooping me into a bone-crushing huge in one motion. The potion slopped dangerously as i wriggled away from his arms._

_"You're okay__!" i raised an eyebrow._

_"Of course i'm okay, i told you i'd be back didn't i?"_

_"Yeah, but its dark. I was worried you were hurt" __He let go and sat down to give me some space._

_"Well, i'm fine__" i ignored the other two and placed the potion by cherry. Kneeling down on my knees, i pulled of the flannel and lifted his head._

_"Here cherry, drink this. It'll make you feel better i promise"__ he was awake and opened his mouth slightly._

_I brought the potion to his lips and let it flow in at a steady rate. As soon as it was gone, he slumped back down to the floorboards, sleeping this time without a crease in his eyes._

_"It was just some plants i found, should cure his fever__" I explained. Ragman nodded and pulled a blanket over hiself, curling back up into a sleep. Hoss watched me and i watched junior as he took his turn on the lookout, everything had gone back to normal. It was my turn to watch after junior if i wasn't mistaken. Well anyhow i'd have a few hours rest, i was shattered._

_"Junior, wake me up when you finish, i'm going sleep for a while, kay?" __He finished his drag on his cigar and made a thumbs up motion behind him._

_"Night guys" __i yawned and pulled my own blanket across me. I soon hit the blackness, a dream taking over for the first time in a week._

_When i finally woke of my own accord, i could hear birds tweeting their morning song and dull sunlight streamed in through the doorway. It was obviously apparent that it was now morning. Around me i heard others stirring and rubbing my eyes to see, hoss was sat yawning on lookout, and ragman and junior were sat by the window, eating a ration between them. _

_"Hey! Why didn't you wake me up!" __hoss looked boredly in my direction._

_"Because we thought you needed some sleep, for once in a while" __he yawned again__._

_"What do you mean, for once in a while__!" i demanded, throwing of my blanket and pulling on my uniform._

_"What i mean is, you've been so busy looking after cherry and doing lookout, you've barely slept in the past week. You looked like death" __i glared at him furiously._

_"Well thanks for telling me i looked like death!" _

_"Look lessa, calm down. It was my order okay__?" ragman cut in from the window. My rage went down a little, i guess i understood. Besides, i did need that sleep. I felt a lot more refreshed now, i probably wouldn't be yawning through the entire day._

_"Fine, but hoss, you get some sleep now. I'll take over lookout"_

_"Fine with me" __his eyes half closing already__. "Ima just sleep right here..i hope-you don't mind__" and just like that, he crashed to the floor. Looking outside, it was a nice day. The sun was bright and warm, and the jungle looked greener than ever, a nice patch of tufty grass sitting at the bottom of the steps. I went to sit on it, gazing at the blue sky above. Almost as crystal clear as the water. _

_"You want a cigar__?" junior appeared at the door._

_"Sure, why not" __he light the first one and handed it to me. I gratefully took a drag and he leaned against the doorway; bathing in the glow of the sun._

_"You know__" he remarked casually__, "Cherry didn't toss around in his sleep last night, not even once. I'd say that medicine you gave him done him good"_

_"Really?" __I wasn't really that shocked though, after all; i was the one who made it._

_"Yeah, his fever's broke too"_

_"That's great!" __i enthused. Well, i could stop worrying now._

_"He's awake!" __ragman suddenly yelled from inside. _

_"What?"_

_"Cherry, he's awake!" He's awake!" __Suddenly i became really shy. But i didn't have a chance to stay outside, junior grabbed me by the hand and dragged me indoors to see him. _

_Hoss was surprisingly still asleep, despite the fact that ragman was not quiet when he yelled. Over in the corner, cherry was sat up, staring curiously around the room._

_"W-where am i?"_

_"Don't worry, your safe. Thanks to lessa that is" __ragman clapped him on the back gently and cherry locked his eyes on me._

_"Lessa?" _

_"Oh yeah__" junior jumped to join in. __"When she wasn't eating or sleeping, she was caring for you. If we didn't force her to sleep, she would never have left your side" __His eyes still continued to watch me. I backed away nervously, my head bowed down at the floor. I wasn't wanting the credit._

_"Lessa..can we go outside for a moment?"_

_"Huh?" __we all looked up.__ "Oh, um sure, why not" __i stammered and he got up wordlessly and left the room. I shrugged at the others and followed suit. I hope he isn't mad. _

_Soon i too, stood in the shining view of the sun. I was well aware of the others watching us from the window. He interlocked his hands together and looked straight into my eyes again, seemingly reaching down into some depth of my soul._

_"Thank you lessa" __he said finally._

_"Oh..i-it was nothing"_

_"But it meant something to me" __I didn't know what to say to that. I guess we both liked each other, but i hadn't had experience with this before. With the human guys that actually wanted to date me, they were immature. They just asked me out and then that was it, never any of this awkward stuff. I'd never felt as much for them as i did with cherry either. I wouldn't kid myself that he is my muirn beatha dan, but he was something special to me; that was evident. _

_"Lessa, look at me, please" __i didn't even realize i was looking away, i was so absorbed in my confused thoughts. Without warning, he strode forward, clearing the space between us in moments. Wrapping me in his embrace, all my thoughts just left without a goodbye.__Doing the only thing i seemed to know right now, on instinct alone; i locked my arms around him as tight as i could. I felt wanted. _

_"What are they doing__?" junior asked with a hint of disgust._

_"It's not all about sex you know, love is important too"_

_"But we're in a war?" _

_"So? fuck the war, their in love"_

_Later that evening, everything had returned to normal. Neither one of us spoke of the moment between me and cherry, much to hoss's annoyance as he thought something was being kept from him when he finally woke up._

_Night had already hit, the moon was out in its former glory and the creatures of the jungle ran rampant among the leaves. Other than that it was calm._

_"Hey cherry, you all good to do lookout for a few hours?"_

_"Sure man, you get some sleep" __I watched bemusedly as the other three tucked themselves up in their blankets. Within minutes they were snoring, even hoss looked innocent and cute in his sleep. Its a shame he only looked that in his sleep though. I wasn't tired, the sleep i'd had from last night would tide me over til morning. _

_Cherry was already on the door, and i thought now would be a good time to talk to him. Without everyone else lurking around listening; but first, i was hungry. Time to make food. _

_I sorted through all the ration packs, looking for something decent. Looks like powered soup would have to do. The fire was already lit and burning, and it only took a minute in the pan over it with water, to turn it into something edible. Now i needed something to pour it in. There weren't any bowls but there were two ceramic mugs. I poured the soup into both, intending to give one to cherry. I'm sure he could use it._

_He slided over to make space for me as i approached. I smiled gratefully and handed him a mug. Laying my legs flat out in front of me, i examined the stars. There were out in their element tonight, twinkling happily. Beside me cherry was sipping the soup carefully, i followed suit. It wasn't too bad, for something that came out of a packet. I guess the vc didn't have rubbish food in their supplies, after all._

_"The stars are beautiful, don't you think__?" he asked, still gazing at their enticing light. _

_"Yeah..just makes you wonder what's out there" _

_"Mm..lessa, can i ask you a question__?" he put the mug down, all traces of soup gone; and turned to face me._

_"Yes?"_

_"Well..do you like me?"_

_"As a friend?"_

_"No..more" _

_"Oh__.." i was aware a blush was now creeping at my cheeks. What was i going to say? Aware of his stare, i shifted uncomfortably._

_"I-i don't like you no"_

_"Oh" __he turned away and his fist balled up._

_"No, you see. I think i...i think i love you" __seemingly uncertain, he slowly shifted back to face me, his fist had gone limp._

_"Lessa__?" i bowed my head, instantly regretting it. _

_"I know its been such a short time, a-and that its too soon but-" _

_"Shush__" he silenced me with his finger on my lips. His finger drifted down and his hand came up to cup my face. All the while i watched his brown eyes, so deep and bright. I realized it was time to put away my misgivings for now and trust my instinct. He leaned in just before i closed my eyes, and then we were kissing. _

_At first it was slow, the feel itself sending shivers through my spine. A hint of passion just beginning to creep in. His pace quickened and my instinct excited me. I brought my arms up to his neck and leant into him, his hands on my waist. No longer caring, we leant too far over the side of the step and tumbled down entangled together, breaking apart our lips to laugh as we hit the tuft of grass._

_"I love you too lessa" __he said and then his lips met mine again._


	13. Chapter 13- Ruins of vc

_Chapter Thirteen- Ruins of vc_

_I awoke to an breeze blasting in from the empty doorway. No one was there on duty and my suspicion was instantly raised. Casting an eye on the makeshift beds around me, two of them were empty. The other two were filled with junior and ragman so that meant lessa and cherry were missing. Both of whom were supposed to be on duty throughout the night. _

_I waited impatiently for the dizziness of sitting up to fast to leave and then stood, glancing around into all corners of the hut; still no sign. Maybe they were outside, the door was wide open after all. I walked over, my socks padding on the floorboards quietly, so as not to wake ragman or junior. The sun was still mild so that meant it was still early in the morning. They would not be happy if i woke them._

_When i reached the door i accidentally trod on a misplaced mug, the remnants of soup still visible inside; it looked like it had been discarded in a hurry. Something was going on here. That was when i saw them._

_"What. the. fuck"_

_The voice burst through my dreamless sleep, anger tainting it. I was instantly aware that i had company on the outside world. My eyes flew open to meet hoss's accusatory glare. Well, crap._

_"Um, hi there?" __i tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear nervously._

_"What the fuck!" __he repeated. Seemingly unable to register that i was unclothed on the grass. _

_"Um.." _

_"Whats wrong? oh.." __cherry said as he spotted hoss, having awaken himself._

_"You slept with him!?" __he yelled, unable to contain his rage. Well i would have thought that one was obvious, we weren't just naked for the fun of it. _

_"Yes, what exactly is your problem?" __cherry spoke for me, a bemused look on his face as he reached for the clothes beside him. _

_"U-a-er" __hoss was speechless for the first time in ages._

_"Just put some goddam clothes on!" __he retorted and stalked of into the door of the hut. As i picked up my own clothes, i saw a shadow rush to the window. I hurried to put my clothes on just as junior rushed to the door and peered out._

_"Aw damn! i missed it!" __he cried as i buttoned up my uniform._

_"And that's what windows are for" __ragman said from inside._

_"Alright, can i have everybody's attention please" __ragman called from the center of the hut. The rest of us stopped our packing immediately and sat in a order in front of him, it almost seemed like a normal day at the base._

_"As your all aware, we cannot stay here forever. Firstly we are running low on food supplies and secondly it is our duty to fight in this war. Even when things may seem impossible and that there is no way out, we must keep going. We will fight to the end, for good or for bad. So in order to conclude that, we leave today. Over the bridge is a river and if we keep going downstream we should come to a city. With any luck we can find a radio there and call for help. If anyone has any questions, now is the time to ask them" _

_We were all silent as we brooded over this new course of action. It itself seemed like a death wish. Any city that we were to come upon was more than likely to be dominated by enemy troops. There was nothing else for it however, if we stayed here we would die of starvation. _

_'Better to die honorably than to not'_

_'Its not even my war but i suppose your right' _

_'We already know your only fighting it for cherry'_

_'Yeah alright, just shut up now'_

_Ragman dismissed us and we returned to packing. I absentmindedly threw in the required medical field dressings and ammo for my guns. We didn't even have any grenades left since the showdown with the vc. I just hope we wont need them, i cant risk doing magick again. Especially not now, cherry would most likely hate me if he knew the real me. I couldn't afford to be hurt again, i wont be distracted from my target. As soon as this war is over, i have to go and find her. Cherry or not, nothing will change my destiny. _

_Well, i'm ready. I have nothing else to pack. Around me, the others were finishing up one last meal of the very same powdered soup that me and cherry had had last night. I had refused some, my stomach strangely full of anticipation of what would happen next. _

_I took the time to look out over the bridge. It was deserted of all life, the wind blowing through the holes of wooden boards, causing it to whistle. If i squinted my eyes, i could see the slabs of abandoned ruins, pushing their way through the voluptuous leaves._

_I guessed the river must be alongside the ruins, on a side i could not see from this position._

_"Are you ready lessa__?" ragman asked suddenly from behind me. I turned and nodded._

_"Ready when you are"_

_"Alright then fellas, its time to leave" __i heard a muttered groan from hoss and junior's thoughts yelled out his joy as he hoped for a way home. Cherry was unreadable but smiled when he saw me watching him._

_Ragman slid his bag onto his shoulders and loaded his grease gun. The others copied from behind. At his command we marched down the steps and across the swaying bridge, the unusual quiet of midday unsettling us all. As the the entrance to the ruins loomed up at us, we were all expecting a danger to await us inside. _

_Ragman slowed and we practically tiptoed inside on the balls of our feet, we were expectant of anything._

_"Keep it prossy" __and then a chugging sound started up behind us, the water rippled as a boat made its way around the corner. Largely emblazoned on the side of the boat was the initials U.S._

_"Hey! USA! USA! You want a ride home?" __a dark skinned man waved from the open cockpit of the boat, he was on his own and seemed thrilled to see us. _

_"A U.S boat, we're safe!" __junior was jumping up and down, waving his arms in excitement._

_Just then, a group of vc soldiers appeared on the other side and opened fire on the boat._

_"Shit, its getting to hairy here, meet me where the waters shallow" __he told us and then the boat chugged of down the river. _

_We retaliated, and shot the vc down within moments. If only the boat had waited._

_"Well, looks like we got ourselves a new mission boys"_

_"Woo! we finally gonna get somewhere" _

_"Would you keep it down?! we're no where near where the water gets shallow" __i blurted out._

_"What do you mean?" __shit, didn't mean to say that. The only reason i know is because of my magick, but they cant know that. Must find a logical way to explain it._

_"Uh, well. Look downriver, its obvious by the layout of the jungle that it doesn't get shallow for a long stretch of water__" that was the best explanation i could come up with. Like suckers, they fell for it. Except ragman that is, he cast his eyes in suspicion on me. _

_"Shes right, we'll just have to run for it. We'll never make it any other way. Don't stop for anything, you hear me?"_

_"Yes sir!"_

_And so we ran. __We stormed our way through ruined paths and clearings. The vc were a barrier, a barrier that we were going to blast our way through._

_"Enemy front!"_

_"Another one down!"_

_"Another vc down!"_

_The first clearing was a breeze. Two platoons worth of vc and misshapenly placed traps. We ran and shot, the bullets speeding as a call of death. A rocky path lay to the side and after clambering up it and its dead vc bodies, we emerged into yet another clearing. The punji traps here were ineffective as we sprinted too fast to actually fall into them, the same for the trip-wires. _

_The vc however were a different story. Obviously they had been forewarned, and were all set up in their gun emplacement bunkers to take us out. We couldn't give up though, i sensed that just behind the rock face ahead and down was an area where the water shallowed out._

_"Don't stop! just keep running!" __maneuvering around the gun emplaced bunkers was the only way forward, the path itself noticeable._

_"Join the army, visit exotic locations; and shoot the shit out of em" __was this cherry's idea of a joke? i smirked though as it was pretty darn truthful. _

_"Grenade!" __in the midst of chaos that ensued as some idiot through a smoke grenade, we sneaked our way around the bumbling vc and bunkers and passed right through the path. A last look behind showed we weren't being followed. _

_"Keep going" __a little further down the path we went, until we could finally see the water. Sand crunching beneath our boots and water soddening the sand as an incoming boat forced it to bring waves crashing around it. _

_"We made it__" i breathed a sigh of relief and from somewhere, cherry placed his arm around me. The highs and lows of a war. _

_The boat itself chugged to a stop beside us and the soldier stepped down from the cockpit._

_"This ain't the USS toga__" hoss said with a tone of contempt._

_"Honey, honey, i call this the USS do you want to get the fuck home or not"_

_"She looks fine to me brother" _


	14. Chapter 14- Charlie's creek

_Chapter fourteen- Charlie's Creek_

_"Good evening and welcome aboard ladies and gentleman. They call me the chief and i will be your captain for this voyage. If you would like to safely stow your luggage, we can commence our journey" _

_We clambered aboard the green boat, the boat itself swaying gently under our feet. As we walked over its planks, the wood was hollow, echoing our footsteps. Cherry continued to keep his arm around me and we sat down on a side-bench, placed on the left side of the boat. The chief went back to the cockpit and ragman did the same, leaning against the side window. Junior and hoss took up the other side. As soon as we were all seated, the boat stammered to a start and floated of down the river again. _

_"What's this piece of shit made of?" __hoss was asking as he stamped his boot onto the planks, producing the same hollow sound that had concerned me just moments before._

_"Hey, go easy brother. Sally here's seen enough action without you stamping your goddam sized thighs all over her" __the chief turned back to the wheel as soon as he was sure hoss was going to stop stamping._

_"So," __ragman edged forward towards the chief. __"What are you doing so far out here?"_

_"That's a long story sergeant, dropped some marines back at the creek, seen some strange shit up there"_

_Hoss lay back, soaking up the final rays of sunshine that filtered through the trees above, causing the light to pale in contrast to its true, fiery color. A fire that could burn the eye of a mere mortal._

_"Now this is the way you travel, if my old ma could see me now.." __he sighed contentedly, kicking his feet in front of him._

_"If your ma could see you now, crazy bitch would probably tell you to take a bath. Although, she's probably used to the stench, seeing as shes your cousin or sister or some shit" __The content look slid of hoss's face._

_"Fuck you man, i've had enough of your shit__" they both stood simultaneously, squaring up to each other, chest to chest, face to face. For heavens sake, they were acting like teenagers, i'm the goddam teenager not them. I watched for a moment, both of them edging forward warily, fists up high in the air. It looked more like the begin of a cock fight between chickens, minus the fists of course. _

_I sprang upwards, knocking cherry off-guard and stormed over to the two of them. Pushing in between them with my arms, i placed a hand on each of their chest's, forcing them to be separated._

_"What the hell are you doing! It don't mean a thing alright! not a goddam thing__!" i shook my head, keeping the force in my arms until junior fell back down into a seat. _

_"Looks like you finally caught onto our saying huh?" __junior chuckled and hoss sat down beside him, spacing a meter or two between them. _

_I glared at both of them to show i couldn't be messed with, and then folded my arms over and crossed back to the left side, cherry wrapping both arms around me as soon as i sat down again. My muscles were instantly tense-free, and i leaned backwards into him; inhaling his heady scent._

_Up in the cockpit, the chief regarded us with bemusement, then became serious again as he took in the stretch of river we were now passing into. We were surrounded by trees but a sense of foreboding lingered in the sky, the grey clouds pressing into thick ones, rain literally being moments away._

_"Alright fellas, this is one messy, high stretch of river. I'd be on them guns if i was you__" It was only then, taking a good look around the boat, that i noticed four guns. One at the back, one at the front, and one for each side of the boat. That meant four of us were going to be shooting, and one was not. Well that one person wasn't going to be me, that's for sure; and i highly doubt its going to be hoss either. _

_Apparently ragman was thinking the same thing, and coming to the same conclusion of that a medic would need to stay low, cherry was the name that dominated as answer in both our minds. I remembered the last time cherry was on an automated gun, he was hyperventilating more than a claustrophobic person in a closet. Probably for the best that he wasn't on one, i could tell things were about to get serious._

_"Cherry, i want you to stay low okay?" __ragman announced, much to the expectations of all of us. Even cherry visibly wiped a bead of sweat from his face and nodded. Cherry leant in and kissed me for a brief moment, before dropping to the floor and shuffling into the cockpit on his stomach. I smiled, i don't think i could ever get used to this feeling of being loved, of such a sincere feeling._

_"Alright, lessa your on rear. Hoss, junior, your on the sides; and i'm on front. Remember, it don't mean a thing"_

_"Yes sarge"_

_Just then, the trees and bushes started to rustle, and vc straw hats appeared from beneath them. They opened fire just as we took up our allotted position, bullet's ricocheting of the boat's outer armor._

_Getting the machine gun started up was easy, the recoil however was violent. It was lucky my arms were stable as they were continuously pounded by backlash. The vc weren't so lucky however, once their cover was pelted with bullets. The boat continued to move on and the trees began to thin out into a village, above it were the beginnings of a city. That meant we were closer than we thought, but as vc tore out from civilian huts that lay above the water height, it was obvious this city was dominated by vc and going inside it would be a death mission. _

_As if the chief could read my mind he yelled out an explanation over the cracking of guns._

_"There's another city about 50 miles from here, we'll head that way instead"_

_"Sure thing" __ragman released an arm to sign a thumbs up before returning it to shoot the fresh hoard of vc. _

_"Tram pen__!" and from my line of sight, a tram pen drifted its way towards us, explosives lining each side._

_I concentrated my bullets into it, the cases thwacking against the boat as it blew up with a bang a yard away. Smoke blew up and i rubbed my eyes, waiting for it to clear._

_Suddenly, the boat stuttered and groaned, before shuddering to a stop in dead center of the village._

_"Engine fail!"_

_"Get this piece of shit moving!"_

_"Come on sally, don't fail us now__" i couldn't stop to look but i could hear the chief slide out of the window onto the bonnet of the boat, slamming a fist down onto it; in a hope that it would start._

_"Come on, come on!" __another vc came in from the side and an RPG was fired somewhere. Smoke started to rise from the boat and then the engine roared back to life._

_"Woohoo! we have lift of!" __the village was almost at an end and the last vc were to be picked of as trees started to return._

_"I got one!"_

_"I killed em!"_

_"I got me one man"_

_"You can't even shoot shit on a machine gun__" i heard hoss say in response to juniors 'i got me one man'_

_"Fuck you hoss, i'm the best sniper in 101st and you know it!" __Oh great, they were bickering again and just as it was about to get serious. The walls of the city canal were up ahead as i turned to see, a convoy of lorries were passing above us on the road; however it was impossible to shoot them. _

_"Okay you two, quit your bitching; we're still in combat here__" ragman said warily. We passed under the road without serious infliction and the canal entrance was dead ahead. Another ship, just bigger than a tram pen and white in color, washed up in front of us; a chopper monitoring its movements from above._

_This wasn't going to be good._

_"Look! a cobra gunship!"_

_"Yeah! cobra! cobra!" __junior called just as the chopper began to shoot at it. The bullets pounded into its engine and it blew into pieces right before our eyes. I felt rather than saw juniors slump of disappointment. The chopper took of and we continued passing through the canal, the walls bloodstained as vc boats came through and were mercilessly killed by us. _

_"Take out that tram pen__!" City walls surrounded us and pre-warned vc awaited us on machine guns. Although i was in my element of killing, i was attacked by a strange sadness. Reminded of the society of the earth i came from, realizing that it hadn't changed much from now, that these humans had not learned from their mistakes. Sending their soldiers to their inevitable deaths. There wasn't really a need for war, why couldn't they co-exist in trade? I didn't ask for this burning hatred of mine, my desire to avenge the wrong's marissa has caused me. But i have it, and it was fueled by the nature of humans. It was kill or be killed, enjoying it is just a bonus._

_The boat jerked to yet another stop, forcing me to pull away from my troubled thoughts and my automatic killing. I couldn't risk another glance, however. Whatever was happening at front, we were surrounded by vc behind meshed wire and bunkers that were make-shift along the length of the canal._

_"The canal's blocked!" __the chief answered my question with a yell. So that's what's happening. Well, i sure hoped it got unblocked soon. Without using magick, i was as susceptible to succumb to injury as they were. I wondered what it was like for cherry, who lay cowering on the boards. Still couldn't look. Must focus all attention into beheading these idiots. _

_"Just drive straight fucking through it" __a typical hoss response._

_"No way, soldier boy. I ain't risking sally__" and so we continued to get shot at. I'd say sally is in a lot more trouble just sitting here than driving through some crates or whatever it is that's blocking the canal. I didn't have a very good range of shooting here either. I could only turn the gun one hundred and twenty degrees either way, not even enough to see what was happening on the sides where hoss and junior were defending._

_"RPG!" __i heard junior cry and a tremor shivered through the boat upon impact._

_"We're taking serious damage here, i don't know how much more she can take" _

_"Then just go fucking through it__" i muttered angrily. Him and his goddam beloved boat. I'd barely known the guy for five minutes and already he was beginning to piss me of._

_"Man, i'm getting shot to shit here" __hoss complained._

_"Just keep shooting!"_

_Just then, treads thundered over the canal land._

_"Look out! Armour!"_

_"We're fucked!" __And just as i was beginning to agree with hoss, the same helicopter from earlier whooshed over, dropping its payload onto the canal land and river. Blowing up both the tank and blockage, if melanie were to serve me right. What side was it on exactly? Oh well, no time to question it,_

_"Get moving!" __i__yelled and the chief jumped the engine back into gear._

_Within seconds we were sliding of down the canal once more._

_"So cherry, how's it feel now that your a real soldier?" __junior asked conversationally, cherry resurfacing slightly from the cockpit._

_"I don't know, kinda hard to tell with all this shit going on"_

_"Man that's bullshit, you ain't no real soldier until your second tour"_

_"You people ain't no real soldiers, real soldiers know to shut the fuck up when in combat" __and, ragman-one, rest of the guys- zero. The area was quiet and the end of the canal was in sight, but not without a threat. 3 ships, one large and two small; sat waiting in the middle of the canal. They were blocking our only exit and it was just my luck that i couldn't shoot them. Damn, i wasn't really one for encouraging from the sidelines. The others were sure up for it and as i clambered down from the gun, they launched multiple bullets in them. I slid down until my back pressed up against the side of the boat, waiting and listening for the bang that would signal our safety for a little while longer. _

_Sure enough they came quickly and loudly. Three cracked bangs and many cheers of victory. _

_The canal ended and jungle resumed._

_"Well done fellas, we made it"_

_"We kicked their asses all the back to hanoy"_


	15. Chapter 15- Sacred statue

_Chapter Fifthteen- Sacred statue_

_It was later that night. A bad feeling continuously lingering through the air__, __a tiny sliver of moonlight following us downstream until finally it disappeared behind one of the jungle's many trees. It had been quiet for many hours, neither one of us had let out a word since we had escaped from the canal; it was almost as if we didn't dare to. We drifted along, waiting for a sign of this city that the chief had mentioned. _

_The trees were an even darker green than usual, a foreboding sense of what lay within the jungle's depth._

_Then, through all disbelief a wooden port raised up out of the water and the boat stopped dead beside it. The chief let go of the wheel and hung in the air for a moment, before falling backwards onto the wooden boards. They echoed his fall and i watched wordlessly as cherry abandoned my side and rushed over to him. I was speechless because i already knew. The bad feeling that hung in the air was his death, and it was about to get a whole lot worse as the bushes beside the dock began to rustle. But still i could not pull the words out to warn them._

_Cherry ran his hands over the chiefs body, turning him over to inspect the wound. A chest wound._

_"Aw shit, he's been hit!" __Hoss cried out__._

_"Shit, he's dead!" __cherry__affirmed my senses and i swung to face the bushes._

_"Lets-" __but ragman didn't get to finish._

_"Heads up, movement in the trees__!" and now everyone jumped to face the same direction i was in, watching as half clothed males pushed their through the undergrowth; sharp sticks directed at us._

_They pushed forward warily, aware that each of us was now pointing a gun at them._

_"Drop your weapon" __A white haired one lead them forward, apparently their leader._

_"No, you drop 'your' weapon" __hoss said, pulling the trigger of his gun to his line of sight._

_Ragman looked in between us and the people, a look of bewilderment painted on his face._

_"Hoss, chill out" __he raised his hand. __"Their montiyards..i think"_

_"They don't look friendly to me sarge__" me and cherry lowered our rifles but junior and hoss continued to push theirs forward._

_"Drop your weapons, that's an order" __hoss glared at him but lowered the gun, junior doing the same._

_The montiyards looked pleased._

_"Follow, follow__" the white haired one called and then made of through the maze of bushes. There was nothing for it but to walk after them, the other montiyards lowering their staffs and walking beside us smiling. I wonder what for._

_"Hey, you think they got any food__?" hoss asked, rubbing his stomach and mocking faintness._

_"Fuck that bro, you think they got any women?"_

_The village itself wasn't too shabby, compared to their style of clothing that is. Although i think it was more due to tradition than resources, since their women here were fully clothed; much to junior's disappointment. The men however only wore goat-skin flaps to cover their torso, everything else was bared and their bones were prevalent. Was this really the way Vietnamese lived their lives? and to think i was missing the luxury's and technology of home. The village was comprised of little huts and one big building. The building was lined with ancient carvings of something, but i couldn't make out what it was. It was a drawing of two people it looked like, possibly girls from the curving of the torso; but that was all i could make out since i didn't understand the words that were written. Goats and chickens milled around freely within the boundary of the village gate and villagers were sat outside; churning milk and washing clothes. Here there seemed to be no war, no invasion of vc troops. They were seemingly content, although there were creases at their eyes. Maybe the war had touched them here after all._

_"Follow, follow__" the white haired male called again, his fellow villagers moving aside to let us through the big building's doorway. Inside it was lit with burning torches, the orange glow cast over more drawings inside, giving me a strange feeling of deja vu. _

_Strangely enough, as we passed down a long corridor and ragman warned us to keep our eyes open for we didn't want surprises; the building only contained one room. This must be where the elder resides. Our guide himself seemed old, how old would the elder be?_

_I turned into the room and was instantly surprised. At the other end of the practically bare room, was just one man. Sat cross-legged between two torches, gazing at us each in turn as we came through the door._

_As his eyes locked onto mine, something passed from me to him, and yet another crease joined his eyes. It lasted only a moment but i knew something was wrong here. Could it be marissa? no..of course not. What would she be doing in a run-down Vietnamese village. Besides, i couldn't sense any trace of her, surely her foul scent was still the same. If she was or had been here within the past week, i would know. It was just a bond of fate, One must live and one must die. And her magick reeked in its own terrible way. Ugh, why can't she just leave my thoughts alone for one single moment. Is this destiny, what will happen if she dies? what will i have then? Perhaps it shall be a peaceful death, but that would be pointless. To kill her, only to kill myself. Will i ever answer these questions, what will become of me? _

_"Lessa?" __cherry tapped me on the shoulder gently, alerting me to everyone's gaze._

_"Oh, i'm fine__" i plastered a false smile onto my face and sat down with the others. Ragman nodded and turned back to the elder. I hope i hadn't missed too much._

_"Greetings, are you in charge__? he asked ragman slowly, english must be his second language. Absentmindedly i wondered where and why they learned it._

_"That's me, sergeant frank wier. What do you want?"_

_"I..have a pro-position for you"_

_"And what's that old timer__?" the elder seemed overwhelmed by ragman's bustly manner, but nevertheless tried his best to keep up. _

_"Many days ago, vc come and kidnap several of our also took something most precious to us. A statue, our sacred statue. Important to the well-being of our people"_

_"Let me guess, you want us to rescue your people and bring back the statue, right?"_

_"Yes, you help us, we give you this__" beside him sat a radio and he lifted it up for us all to see._

_"Well would you look at that"_

_"Fucking eh!" _

_"All right, you got yourself a deal old-timer"_

_"Excellent, excellent, my daughter, she will lead you to the temple where the vc are at. You will find her at the main gates of our village. May the gods go with you" __he gestured to his friend and spoke some unidentifiable words, causing the villager to leave and reappear moments later with gun ammo._

_"At least they decided to give us a meal first" __hoss sighed contentedly before continuing to ram hunks of cheese and goat's meat down his throat. The rest of us didn't eat much slower, we had been starved of real food for a while now. _

_"Yeah, any longer and i would have passed out__" junior exclaimed, as he eyed up one of the passing women, as if inviting her to say something about the prospect of him passing out. He really did seem to think he was god's gift, she did however wink at him as she passed. My god, any longer and we would have to drag him out of this village if we were going to get this mission done before dawn._

_As i lay back beside cherry, watching the stars twinkling their song of light; i saw a women watching me from behind us, she was rearranging items in a wheelbarrow but it seemed her undivided attention was on me. What is it with these people?_

_"What's wrong?" __cherry asked, noticing my gaze._

_"Nothing, i'm just a little tired that's all" _

_"Me too. I can't wait until we get some actual sleep. Then again, some alone time with you would be nice" __his eyes gleamed in the darkness, full of promise. Love and lust._

_"Hmm, is that an invitation Harold Kahler?" __the same gleam filled my eyes and his breathing hitched in reaction._

_"Perhaps" __I liked the way this was going._

_"Shame that we have a mission to finish first isn't it__?" i grinned, enjoying this new sensation of teasing him._

_"Pff, then we better get it over with, quick"_

_"We better had, hadn't we__" i glanced again at the area where the woman had stood, but she was gone._

_I soon knew why, when her wheelbarrow pulled up next to me. I sat up immediately as i saw the wheels, it was slightly freaky to say the least. _

_"Are you the soldiers that are here to rescue our people?" _

_'Why yes, we are" __ragman turned away from his conversation with hoss and junior and stared at her curiously._

_"Well then, the girl will need this" __and from her wheelbarrow she pulled out a crossbow, 6 arrows in total with their quivering tips poking over the crossbow string. Junior and hoss stopped talking to stare at her in Astonishment, what was she talking about?_

_"This crossbow was my daughters, she was captured by the vc and now she's dead" __she thrust the crossbow into my arms, forcing the arrows to fall into the palms of my hands. _

_"It will help you in your quest" __then she bent down lower and tilted her head by my ear __"and please, save my daughter, before its too late__" she pleaded in a whisper. I looked down at the crossbow in my arms and then up again, but she was gone. What an earth? and to another point, why was melanie not here to answer this forsaken questions? I sighed inwardly. Goddesses these days, almost as non-helpful as humans. _

_"Well, she's clearly of her trolley" __hoss said and crammed one last piece of cheese into his mouth, apparently not concerned in the slightest, then again; they hadn't heard what she'd whispered to me. _

_"Are we ready to go then?" __ragman asked, eyeing hoss's eating habits with distaste._

_"Hell yeah!" __hoss__shouted, splaying flecks of cheese onto ragman and junior.__ "Oh whoops" __he covered his mouth just a little to late._

_The elder's daughter was still stood by the gate, awaiting our readiness__. _

_"Are you ready to go now__?" she called__._

_"We're ready" __ragman told her as we stood up and brushed of the remnants of food.__ "Lead the way"_

_The gate was opened and she began to walk briskly through it, into the jungle. We hurried to follow her._

_After about a quarter of a mile, she stopped and bent down._

_"There's a vc trap ahead" __She whispered, and so there was. A trip-wire spread across the jungle path, about a meter high._

_"I'll deal with it" __cherry said and crouched forward, deftly untying the trap til the ends littered the floor._

_Again we moved on. Ropes of ivy swung above our heads and wrapped the trees around us. At one point i could have sworn i caught a glimpse of a monkey. This time we were running to keep up with her, and when she suddenly stopped; we all slid into each other._

_"Look," __she was scooping dirt into her hands and grinding it into particles with her fingers. I failed to see her point and i was still angry at hoss for 'accidentally' falling on me._

_"Many vc have trailed through here recently, be on your guard"_

_"We'll be on our guard__" ragman sounded slightly testy and with that we ran further on. When she stopped the third time, i was fit to bust._

_"Shh, vc ahead. I cannot move until you take them out" __Oh, was it finally time to do something other than run?_

_"Also, take them out silently__" silently?..oh my crossbow is what she means._

_"Sure thing, i'm on it" __it's not like i needed confirmation from ragman or anything. _

_"Be safe" __was all ragman had to say on the matter before he moved to the side and let me past. Cherry was waiting in front of me._

_"I'll be waiting" __he smiled and leaned in to kiss me. I relished the sweet taste of dew on his lips. _

_"Be back soon__" i told them, before sneaking of silently into the night._

_I paced the jungle path, waiting and watching for her to return. She only had six arrows, what was taking so long? _

_I longed already for her arms to be wrapped around me, her hair tickling my face; her intoxicating scent. Yet i still couldn't believe i had at last found a girl i loved, in a war of all places. There was something so different about her, and i could tell that she was hiding something. I had told her of my own past, i had nothing to hide. But not once had she ever spoken of hers. All i knew was that it was to do with the broken part of her, the part i had fallen in love with at first. I wonder, will she ever tell me someday. How long will she be around? Today's soldiers are tomorrow's graves. So many questions, but all i could think of was her. All i needed was her._

_I had just sat down, when the elder's daughter started running again. She must be going to lessa. I quickly pushed myself up and ran behind the others, craning my head for a glimpse of her. _

_I saw her soon enough, she stood by a fork of two paths, grinning as she watched us pant forward. We stopped and she walked the last few meters to us._

_"All clear?" the chief's daughter asked._

_"You bet" __she slung the crossbow over her shoulder, her eyes sparkling when she saw me. i noted that all six arrows were gone._

_"Was it fun__?" i inquired, wanting to know what it was like to use a crossbow._

_"Exhilarating" __she replied, surprisingly no hint of sarcasm in her voice. _

_"The valley ahead leads north to the temple gate, we should go__" the chief's daughter told us, taking the left path of the fork. _

_We had ran all the way to the temple, all possible company had already been annihilated by me. We now stood guard outside the steel gate, waiting as the elder's daughter made her way up the steps and unlocked the gate with a key._

_"This is as far as i can go, good luck and may the gods be with you__" she brought her hand to her chest and with that then ran, her legs unhindered as she streaked back through the forest path's._

_"Well, let's get this over with shall we__?" ragman said quietly and slipped through the space between gate and brick. The temple inside was run-down. At least, on the outside anyway. We had yet to see its inside. Orange moss of some kind grew up in spirally tendrils, each flicking its top as if to grab us, or warn us away. _

_"Say, how old do you reckon these ruins are?" __cherry asked curiously, running his hand up a ladder of moss._

_"Hundreds of years i should think" __ragman replied, before stooping forward into a side-door of the temple. Nervously i followed inside, scanning for details to the drawings i had seen back at the village. And yet, there were none. The corridor was low of ceiling and disgraced of hygiene. More torches cast their lowly glow over the paneled walls. The sense of foreboding was higher than ever inside here, and for some reason. Something stank of marissa, a voice telling me she'd been here some days ago. It wasn't possible, i disregarded it instantly; it just didn't add up enough for that conclusion. What would she be doing here._

_"Help__" a body cried. At the end of the corridor, before reaching into what was most likely the main room; was a montiyard body, bound tightly to a bar extended from the wall. The person thrashed about trying to break their bonds, before ragman took pity on him and pulled out his bayonet knife. The knife slid through the course rope like butter, the ends peeling away like zapped bugs; opening wounds around the arms and legs. _

_"Thank you, G.I" _

_"Your welcome, now go__" the montiyard eagerly jumped to ragman's command, slithering his way through a hole in the wall. Unseen to the untrained eyes as a film of camouflage wall material hung across it._

_Now for the main room, what would be inside. The sense of bad becoming like a sensor, almost squealing out danger to my ears. I only looked because of my dear love of danger, and what i saw was fearful to anyone, let alone me._

_A body was discarded, propped up against the pillar. Its pale hand devoid of all color, clasped around a tiny statue. Even from the door i could tell it was she, and there was no doubt about it. She reeked of marissa. Not recent, days old at most. A shiver was sent down my spine. She...she had been here._

_A puzzle piece allotted itself into place. Was this what the woman had meant? instinctively i knew this was her daughter. Her lifeless, formless daughter. Her face or should i say what should have been her face, was twisted one hundred and eighty degrees just to stare at us. But there was no features, no nothing. Her face was completely blank, empty. _

_It could only mean one thing, marissa had used her body as host. But why? and since when did her magick become so strong. Oh melanie, where are you when i need you? _

_I saw the others look away, they too could not bear the emptiness of that face. I too had felt like that once, never had i had my body taken away from in the same way this poor girl had, but i too had been empty before cherry had breathed life into me. Empty because of her. She was even more destructive than me, she had to be stopped. _

_So, i ignored the body. I crossed the distance and plucked the statue from her lifeless hands, the coldness of death scorching as our hands touched. _

_Even when the vc poured in, retaliating in assault, determined to kill us all. Even when they became still in death. Even when it was the end of another mission and we passed the same monkey i had been bewildered at before; i was changed. I was empty, and i was full. Love and hate, a war's beginning. _


	16. Chapter 16- Air cav

_Chapter Sixteen- Air cav_

_The red smoke blew up heavily on the hill, three of my fellow squad members waving their arms in the air; the other had his arms around me. I turned to him, his face pointed away; scanning the sky for our rescue. _

_It sure was windy up here. His hair was tufty and flew all by itself in the air. This was the person i had unwittingly fell in love with, a person i would soon have to leave._

_"Woo! air cav, air cav__!" junior cried, his voice rolling over the hills as sure enough; the chopper we had called for was landing. _

_The pilot in front lifted a hand in acknowledgement of our presence, before steering his way to the earthy ground; tearing up clods of dirt in his effort. The blades spun for a moment longer, before cutting to a sharp stop._

_"All right! we're all ready for you!" _

_"Now ain't that a beautiful sight" __Ragman pulled hoss and junior into the chopper, and me and cherry followed behind. Still cherry was silent, i wondered what he was feeling. _

_He went in first then put out his hand to help me in, i almost tripped, but cherry caught me in time. He smiled at me with that heart-stopping smile, and guided me to my seat before i could trip again. It was nice but made me mad, i was quite capable of sitting down myself._

_As soon as the helicopter took of, i realized it wasn't taking us to our base. In fact, it was going the opposite direction. Guess it was to be expected, after all we belonged to one hundred and first, they belonged to first, if the insignia on the side door was anything to go by._

_Ragman and hoss engaged in conversation, not muted but not interesting either. I shook the ends of hair away from my face and stared out over the jungle. _

_"I reckon this war will be over in a year, at most" __hoss was saying confidently__._

_"Nah, i'm betting three years. Those Vietnamese definitely aren't holding anything back"_

_"Those communist bastards, worse than the church. They've been attacking our base all night and day, i tell ya; it's nice to get out of there once in a while__" that was the pilot. Must be bad over there too._

_"I can see what you mean, is that your base over there?" __i followed ragman's line of sight and noticed a base, that literally looked like it was on fire. Planes flew overhead,__dropping rockets that lit up the sky with flames. The best way to describe it would have been the word explosion, since that was all that was going on there. _

_"Yeah. I hope your ready for this sergeant, cause over here its do or die" _

_"We're always ready, you wouldn't believe the amount of crazy shit we've seen out in the jungle" __and they were off again, discussing meaningless information of what had already happened. All i cared for was the present. To dwell in the past was a dangerous thing._

_We drew closer to the base and the pilot was forced to turn all of his attention to the controls as explosive aftershocks caused turbulence for the chopper. After a few shaky moments, the chopper hovered centimeters above the dirt of the base; it was time to get out._

_"Welcome to hell boys" __An appropriate choice of words if you asked me._

_"Who's in charge!?" __ragman yelled over the now deafening bangs and crack's._

_"The commanding officer is major Wallace, good luck__!" i jumped down from the chopper and surveyed the surroundings, holding onto my bandanna as the chopper flew of with a large gust of wind. We were dead center in the middle of the base. Half- standing bunkers surrounding us, dirt flying everywhere. To our right i could see a weapons bunker. Re-supplying ourselves would be ideal. Especially with all the shit going on round here. _

_"Sarge, i think we should re-supply__" i yelled, pointing in the direction of the bunker. Ragman nodded and we drifted over to it, noting with great satisfaction that there was plenty to go around. For myself i stocked on M16A1 ammo and medical supplies. I also chose a handy-looking tokerev pistol, it had a better grip than the beretta; filled down for easier handling. An M62-LAW was tempting but if i had one of those there was a chance i would 'accidentally' blow this place to kingdom come._

_"Alright we all done? good, now to find major Wallace" __ragman slotted a magazine into his grease gun and stood just outside the overhanging door._

_"But where do we even begin to look?" __good question. Trust cherry to at least use his head._

_"Well, we'll ask someone. That guy over there looks promising" __a soldier sat in the middle of a streaking path behind a medical bunker. He seemed to be polishing his gun. Ragman walked briskly over to him and began questioning him. The soldier looked amused._

_"One hundred and first huh? what the fuck you doing here, shit's about to get real hairy. Well anyway, since your here. Welcome to the LZ. The NVA have been attacking us ever since last night, they've drawn back for now but you can bet they'll be back soon. You should go and speak to major wallace, he's in the southern perimeter. If you follow this path it will lead you right to him" _

_"Thanks man" _

_"Sure thing, no problem. I just hope you don't mind dust in your eyes, there' a lot of it round here__" he patted his uniform as an example, a coat of dust entrenching the camouflaged threads._

_"Come on soldiers, we'll follow this path to major wallace" __We marched through the streaking path, passing through a medical bunker as we did._

_"Don't you go dying on me!" __one medic was yelling at his patient but too late, the soldier slumped to his side; lifeless._

_"Motherfucker!" __The path then slipped around yet another rock-face, coming out into a stretch of disaster. The explosions were on a high here, three bunkers facing out over the meshed wire, the whole area shaking. At the end of the stretch stood one soldier, a yellow and black stripe on his hat, marking him as major._

_"Well, there's our man" __He saw us and came running over, barely stumbling when another rocket hit the wire._

_"Outstanding timing soldiers, i don't know who the fuck you are or why your here, but take up a position in one of those bunkers over there and get ready!" __Multiple rockets hit the wire and the major dropped to the floor and crawled into the far left bunker. At ragman's signal we made for the middle bunker. Frag grenades littered the floor and as we bent to pick them up; a siren let rip and vc began tearing their way up the side of the wire. _

_The shooting began._

_After five minutes of this, the major frantically rushed into our bunker, ordered junior and hoss to defend the bunker beside us and whipped out a tokerev pistol and began shooting the bastards climbing up the wall._

_"Left blank, left blank!"_

_"This is charlie one five three to five strike niner, are you there major__?" the major's radio crackled. The major tore out the radio and began roaring into it._

_"This is foxtrot niner, where the fuck have you boys been. I want air support! and i want it now! Blow them fuckers back to hell!"_

_"Roger that major, here comes the calvary"_

_"Take em down boys!" __he yelled to us and just to show my support i threw a grenade, smack down in the path of a vc troop. They didn't know what hit em. A chopper blazed overhead and the vc looked up in horror as the pit opened and rockets dropped down. Bangs ricocheted through my ears and i smiled as tens of bodies flew upwards; only to fall down dead._

_"Yeah! air cav! air cav__!" i heard hoss call from the bunker beside us. Firing bullets in celebration. The vc were soon replaced by more troops and i joyfully landed bullets on their spread-eagled bodies. Death to another was still as thrilling as ever, not even love could change that. _

_"Fuck you!"_

_"Right blank, right blank!"_

_"Is this the best you got!"_

_"Take that you fucking dirty animals!" __Jeez, the major was giving hoss a run for his money with the amount of insults he taunts he yelled out during combat. Ragman would have a field day if he was in our squad, that's for sure. _

_"Major, major! This is the northern perimeter, we are being overrun; i repeat, we are being overrun__!" a soldier was on the other end of the radio, panicking and hyperventilating._

_"Calm down son, we're coming to you now. Hold your ground, you hear me?..hello?..hello!?. Goddammit! looks like its up to us now, follow me!"_

_We sprinted our way back to the northern perimeter, only to be greeted by tons of vc and rockets dropping everywhere._

_We gave them all we had, the major running wildly at the end of the path, dangerously force-feeding bullets into the throats of attacking vc. He was absolutely insane. He survived on pure luck rather than skill or tactic's._

_After a while, the vc gave up and started retreating, slinking back to the rock's they resided under. The major did a crazy dance of joy, yelling all the while; whilst cherry dropped his rifle and hugged me tightly. I shared his feeling, we were alive for still a little longer._

_"Yeah!, their falling back! we did it!"_


	17. Chapter 17- Russian Roulette

_Chapter Seventeen- Russian Roulette_

_The three of us were standing silently by the window, waiting for the major to enter the room. After the vc had withdrawn the major had commanded that we meet him here, before running of to gather injured soldiers with the other surviving medic's. That had been half an hour ago._

_Just then, the door creaked open and we swung round to see the major pushing his way in._

_"Sergeant?"_

_"Major?"_

_"Damn that was some of the best fighting i have ever seen, you boys are truly the backbone of the country i love__" what was i, invisible?_

_"I'm gonna make sure that every last one of you gets a combination for this" __The major continued to prattle on, and i noticed cherry turn away to look out the window again. I guess he didn't want to be credited for it._

_"Get down__!" he suddenly cried and that was the last thing i heard before a grenade exploded._

_"2 bullet! 2 bullet!" __A revolver spun around on the table surface, finally stopping with its trigger facing the major._

_"You communist bastards! Argh! i ain't playing your sick game" __An NVA soldier smacked the major around the head with the AK-47 he was holding._

_Ragman pushed his hands down onto the grimy table and forced his body to stand; his chest hovering above the table._

_"Just look at me major, look at me! pull the trigger! just fucking do it!" __Another soldier forced ragman back down into his seat. _

_Reluctantly, knowing that he was outnumbered by far. The major picked up the gun and pointed it to his head._

_"For uncle sam!" __and the trigger was pulled, before the major slumped down from his seat; all traces of life gone. _

_"Oh shit__" ragman stared in shock at the now empty seat. A third NVA soldier grabbed ahold of the majors legs, dragging him across the floor and out of the door. _

_After a few moments, the soldier did not return. Only ragman, and three NVA soldiers were left._

_The room was dark, the only light coming from the window in front, spreading white over the grubby table. The NVA seemed to be waiting for something._

_Just then, the door swung open once more and two more soldiers came in, holding two figures with their hands behind their backs. As they were forced into a seat each around the table, the light lit up their faces and revealed their true identity. _

_"Sarge! your alive!" __Cherry exclaimed happily, despite being held down in a chair with his hands behind his back._

_"Welcome to the party you two, just sit down, its gonna be cool" _

_"What the fuck's going on here?" __Lessa asked, struggling against her captor. She bit his hand and was returned with a slap around the face._

_"Just follow my lead, okay" __Ragman then turned to the NVA soldier at the head of the table. The other two soldiers left to stand guard outside. _

_"3 bullet, 3 bullet__" ragman lifted up three of his fingers to show the soldier what he wanted._

_"3 bullet!" __the soldier slotted 2 more bullets into the revolver, joining the one bullet leftover from the major's suicide. He placed a finger on the middle of the gun; pinning it to the table, before spinning it once again._

_Ragman watched it intently before stopping the gun with his finger. He picked it up slowly, aiming it for his head._

_With a sudden flash, ragman swung the gun forward and shot down the NVA at the head of the table, cherry grabbed the soldier by him and headbutted him, whilst ragman shot the other one. Lessa then landed a swift kick to the surviving NVA soldier's crotch that cherry had headbutted; rendering him unconscious. Ragman loaded the last bullet of the revolver and blew out the NVA soldier's brains._

_All was quiet again, the guarding soldiers outside not alerted to the commotion as gun-shots were to be expected. The plan had gone without a hitch._

_The three of us crouched beneath the dirt-ridden table, planning our next move. It had been a close one, i was glad ragman had been able to think so quickly like that._

_"Lessa, check the backroom for supplies. We'll wait here" __Ragman ordered, evidently stuck on what to do next._

_"Yes sarge__" I crouched down even further and crawled my way into the back room; a dingy, low lit room filled with boxes. To my delight, i found a bayonet knife, 4 medical field dressings and the very same crossbow i had had confiscated from me previously; re-supplied with 5 arrows._

_Excellent._

_I crawled back with the supplies and watched as a smile lit up on cherry's face._

_"Look what the cat dragged in" __i whispered and lifted up the crossbow for them to see._

_"Is that?" _

_"The very same"_

_"Well, in that case lessa. That concludes the summary of our new plan" __ragman took two of the medical field dressings and handed them to cherry before handing the other two and the knife to me._

_"What do you mean?" __i asked confused._

_"Well, the best way of escape is to take out the guards around the area silently, so that they don't get alerted and come to attack us. If they do, we wont be able to defend ourselves"_

_"So, your saying that i should be the one to take them out__?" i raised an eyebrow in disbelief._

_"Yes, after all. You do have experience with the crossbow" _

_"I guess your right there__" i mused. Cherry looked concerned but i could tell he didn't exactly want to volunteer himself._

_"Also lessa__-" ragman's eyes flashed._

_"Yes?"_

_"I want you to rescue hoss and junior..if there still alive" __Ahh. That was a point, i hadn't seen them since just after the retreat of the NVA. Hoss got on my nerves sometimes..alright a lot. But once you got to know him, he wasn't that bad of a guy; he just had a lot of pent up anger like me. Junior, well he was junior. Once he stopped complaining about getting home, he was a fun guy to be around. Always had lots of stories about living in the ghetto. I had grown to love those guys as part of my squad. The only reason i was still here._

_Man, they better not be dead._

_"Sure thing sarge, i wont let you down__" i stood tall and saluted. Ragman and cherry did the same. _

_"Be safe lessa" __cherry whispered._

_"Of course" i said softly._

_I creeped out of the door, my senses instantly alert to the two guards stood either side of me. One was sleeping at the far end of the broadwalk, the other just around the corner facing away from me. Tactically, i should kill the awake one first, since he wont hear the twang of my crossbow until its too late. The other way round would give him a warning, and that i could not afford to do. _

_So i did just that. Both guards had no idea of what happened it was too late, both bodies lay face-down on the floor, blood pooling on the boards around them. _

_I followed down the broadwalk until i came to the sleeping soldiers dead body. Steps descended down onto ground, a barrel of oil providing the perfect cover for me to examine the area ahead. Two more guards patrolled a few metres away in front. One was further up and disappeared in a small hut, the other stood between two of them, facing away from me. I had three arrows left. One for him, another for the guard i predicted would come of the hut soon, and one last one for whoever i came across. After that it would be knife work. _

_I took the guard outside first, he went down quick and easy; unable to cry. The other guard came out as i predicted and he too now lay wasted on the dirt. _

_I stood and quickly scanned the area, no guards could be seen. I then shuffled forward, making sure that the dirt masked the sound of my steps and hid underneath the window of the nearest hut. Peering in, the room was empty, but through the doorway i could see the bottom of a watchtower, some metres away. A watchtower meant guards, most likely one situated at the top. For the first time, i wished i had the binoculars that used to be forced on us during training. I had never really found a use for them until now, and now was the only time i didn't have them. Well, i guess i'll just have to think about this logically._

_Normally on a watchtower, the sentry would be positioned roughly in the middle, so that he could have a full one hundred and eighty degrees view of the area. So based on that, if i shoot the arrow to the middle and up a little, it should take him out. I couldn't afford not to, because moving forward would mean i would be spotted instantly. It wouldn't take much to spot me in this light. The sun blaring light down on this base like no other. _

_I pulled my last arrow tight. The string was going to cause a horrible backlash when i let it go. It was already starting to bite into my fingers._

_The arrow was released and it flew swiftly through the air, the sunlight glinting of the metal tip. I tensed up with anticipation for the few moments that followed. For the next few seconds, nothing happened and just as i was beginning to think i had failed; a body fell forward and slumped to the ground. A sickening thud of death. _

_Yes! i felt like dancing with joy, but no, i must contain it. _

_There were bound to be other guards around here._

_Looking back, i suddenly noticed a path i hadn't seen before. The entrance jutted out in such a way, that it could only be seen from this side of the base. From the looks of it, it led around the back of the huts. _

_I probably should check it out. I slung the crossbow over my shoulders and clasped my bayonet knife. It was the last weapon i had now, it was still to risky to use magick. Funnily enough, it had been the earthling stepfather who had taught me how to use a knife. Those earthlings, they loved war as much as i did, maybe more._

_I slinked into the entrance of the path and followed it around where it led to bamboo cages. Literally made from bamboo sticks, and reinforced with metal._

_A guard stood between the two cages, his back to me. As my eyes sweeped over the cages, they widened in disbelief as they saw the people inside them. Hoss..and junior! And boy did they look surprised to see me. _

_I pointed to the guard, made a slitting motion with my knife, and waited for their thumbs up. The two nodded and turned; pretending that they had never seen me. _

_I crept up behind him, and the poor guy never knew what hit him. The knife was around his throat before he could struggle, and his blood poured as free as a fountain from his jugular. I brought the knife to my mouth, savouring the bitter-sweetness of death on my lips. Its coppery taste filled me and revitalized me with energy like i had never felt before. Before i had never been free, before i had never killed._

_'Look what you've become my daughter' the words fluttered through my head. A remembrance of my first day of true freedom..and of true darkness._

_Hoss and junior gawped at me, but how could they understand? They killed for duty, for a living; i killed for fun._

_I stopped suckling on the knife and instead set to picking the locks, which brought a relieved look to their faces. As the cage doors swung open, i was assaulted into a hug by hoss and surprisingly, junior._

_"Jesus, how'd you get free?" __junior's voice seemed to be cracking, whether from thirst or emotion i couldn't be sure._

_"Long story" __i sighed._

_"What about that cracker wallace?"_

_"Dead" __Junior was silent for a moment._

_"Hey guys! need some supplies or what" __we jumped apart and swung to face the two soldiers making their way up around the back of the path. _

_"Cherry! Sarge!" __hoss cried, seemingly happy to see even cherry._

_"I thought you were going to stay in the hut__" i muttered, glaring at the both of them._

_"What? and miss out on your touching reunion? Of course not" __Ragman chuckled to himself. Between the two of them they carried a bunch of equipment, before depositing it onto the dusty ground._

_A little while later, after allotting ourselves some guns and medical supplies; it was time to leave. It was too risky to stay here long. Despite the fact that we had weapons now, if we were to face more vc head on, we would most likely lose._

_According to ragman and cherry, who had scouted the camp earlier when i had rescued hoss and junior from capture; the exit to the camp was at the top, through a missing panel in the fence. _

_So, we forced ourselves to our feet and plodded on upwards towards this panel they were talking about. _

_It was there all right. It didn't look like there were any vc on the other side either. Just an entrance to some more damn jungle. Didn't these guys ever get tired of the same shit over and over? honestly._

_I clambered through the loose panel and spotted myself a jeep._

_"Look guys! a jeep! That's our ticket out of here" _

_"Wow ain't she beautiful" __junior whistled as he pushed his way though into the clearing._

_"Jesus junior, you'll fuck anything that moves won't you" __hoss said before climbing astride the backseat of the jeep._

_"Only if it fucks back" __was his reply. I struggled not to laugh, and instead occupied myself with finding a seat in back. I was sat between hoss and cherry, clutching a type 57 assault rifle as my newest weapon, whilst ragman and junior sat up front; much less exposed than we were. Ragman was driving. _

_He slammed his foot down and started the engine up, the jeep lurched forward and we slid around in the back. The jeep rocketed through the jungle path, everything slightly blurred as we rushed past. _

_Everything was going fine until all of sudden,_

_"RPG!" __junior yelled and the jeep swerved off-course, forcing us to leap away from in panic. Smoke blew up and i rolled over in the hope of being able to see something._

_"God junior, why you always gotta be the bearer of bad news!" __i shouted._

_"Well would ya rather you were dead__!" i didn't answer that._

_"Gedin, gedin!" __The smoke still hadn't cleared yet but it was obvious that vc troops had found us. _

_"Over here!" __a voice called. It seemed to be coming from the bamboo itself. As the smoke began to clear, i could see the others looking just as puzzled as me._

_"Over here!" __the voice called again, more urgently this time. It sounded.. Australian._

_As the vc troops began to storm their way to us, there was no choice but to dive into the bamboo, and follow the voice._


	18. Chapter 18-Tunnel rats

Chapter Eighteen- Tunnel rats

"_Struthe that was pretty hairy back there_" the Australian soldier wiped a hand across his brow, sweat matted in his dark brown hair. We listened to the fading gun-shots, having lost the vc after running through a forest of bamboo. Not that getting hit in the face repeatedly by sticks of bamboo was my idea of escape.

Then yet another soldier, lean and muscular, came up behind the first one.

"_Probably should introduce myself, name's bruce stone. This here's me brother, alan stone-_" he patted the shoulder of his brother, and it was obvious that he was the one in charge.

"_We're sergeants of the SAS third sabre squad, we heard your contact with the enemy_" Well, i would have been surprised if they hadn't.

"_Just a walk in the park for us regular grunts_" hoss flipped the switch of a lighter and lit up his cigar.

"_Ain't that the truth, we gotta get back to our unit pronto_" Ragman paced furiously in front of us. Being a leader must be tough.

"_Well, that's the kicker mate. This area's been crawling with vc ever since they honeycombed the valley with a tunnel system, but that's why we're here; to take that tunnel system out!_"

Darkness began to fall over the tops of trees, the moon coming out to play once more. I shivered at the cold air, before cherry wrapped his arms around me; inviting me into his warmth.

Junior sat back on a boulder, using his hands to push himself up. Alan pulled out some logs and started at making a small fire. Each lone spark disintegrating into the dirt.

"_Well good luck with that man, just call us a pick-up bird and get us right out of here_" Hoss said loudly, puffing away on his cigar without a care in the world.

The fire suddenly sparked to life, its glow washing over the face of bruce stone. He seemed resigned, but also bemused.

"_Rack of mate, we call a bird over here and every charlie from here to hanoy will be onto us faster than you can say uncle hoe_" Junior pushed himself up angrily, slicing his arm through the air.

"_That's just fucking great, three days to a wake up call. I'm way too short for this shit man_" Cherry's arms tightened around me, his face set impassively.

"_Junior, shut up and let the man speak"_

_"Alright then, look at this_" Bruce and Alan bent down, tracing a stick in the dirt. Ragman and hoss squatted down interestedly, junior muttering curses and pacing angrily a few metres away. I wasn't really interested in looking, i was just tired.

Morning at last.

We had gone through the plan repetitively last night, til each little detail was etched into our minds like chalk on a blackboard.

Today we traipsed through a sparkling river, coming out southwest of this supposed tunnel entrance. Our mission was to get inside the tunnel, plant charges in main bunkers and get the fuck out of there before the whole place was blown to shit.

What i didn't understand, was since it was the australians mission, why were we the one's risking our lives and planting charges?

"_Alright fella's, we'll meet up with stone on the other side of the tunnel system; it's somewhere northeast of here. Remember, take it slow, make your shots count_"

Our feet were swamped by mud underneath the river bed, but it seemed a lot of the way was through the river, only small patches of brown land to guide us. I was confused to see trees growing in the river, i didn't think that was possible. Then again, everything is possible these days.

"_Hey fella's, this reminds me of home_" Hoss smiled cheerfully, almost frolicking his way through the river.

"_Watch your back boys, hoss is getting a little excited"_

Me and cherry snickered.

"_Kiss my ass man, kiss. my. ass"_

_"Alright ladies, keep the chitchat to a minimum_" Ragman ordered, boots sploshing at the head of the river. Cherry stuck his tongue out, whilst hoss glared at a grinning junior.

For a couple more miles the river stretched on before infantry were sighted. They turned and saw us and hell broke loose as usual. I noticed the tree-houses too late.

"_RPG!_" i dived straight into the water, narrowly avoiding the rocket. As my body hit the river-bed, there was a strange sting through my stomach and the water bubbled. The others were stood facing away from me, shooting down the enemy.

Slowly i stood, suddenly noticing a..knife. Sticking out from my stomach.

Blood trickled in rivulets around it, staining my camo jacket a new shade of brown. Each move i took jolted it more, pain radiating through my body.

But we were still in the middle of combat, there wasn't time to tend to it now.

It..would just have to stay there. All of the blade was sunken into the skin, only the thin handle sticking out. If i undid my jacket and covered it, doing it up again; it wouldn't be noticed. Cherry would go nuts if he saw this thing.

It wasn't a bayonet, that was for sure. A specially crafted Vietnamese knife i would say, and some idiot put it in the water.

Wincing i pulled the gun from my shoulders, my hands stained from the blood.

As soon as the vc fell the others sprinted forward, and i was forced to follow. Splashing crazily through the river, racing towards a chiseled tunnel entrance. It was too tiny to be the tunnel entrance we were looking for, most likely it led to a cave. I shot down an un-suspecting vc creeping behind us, and joined on their position inside the tunnel.

As i'd thought, it broke through into a cave. A oil lamp burning brightly in the centre of a patch of ground, just higher than the water. A supplies cave too. Various weapons of sorts stacked on top of crates. The others already engrossed in checking them out, even cherry. That was good, i could cover the knife.

My head swam as i stumbled forward, i flung out an arm and grabbed a crate furthest away from the others; shaking the dizzy-ness from my head. I think perhaps..i lost more blood than i thought. But i have to keep going. There still isn't time.

_'Lessa, just tell them!'_ I shook my head.

_'I can't, it..it would be a burden'_

_'Lessa!' No.._

_"Hey look! An RPG-7, who wants it?"_

"_Not me_" i heard cherry say hurriedly.

"_Its got five rockets spare, do you think we'll need em?_" hoss asked.

"_Well..-_" ragman seemed to be debating it in his mind. "_Let's just take em, in case of anything"_

"_Sarge, that didn't really solve anything, who's gonna take the RPG is what i meant_" Ragman sighed frustratedly.

"_I'll take them, now shut up and concentrate on the fighting"_

_"Yes sarge.."_

_"Hey lessa, you need some supplies_?" Cherry called, burrowing into one of the crates. I shook my head faintly.

"No..i'm good" I probably did need some but i couldn't even see straight let alone load a gun. I closed my eyes, attempting to draw up some energy so i could last longer. The energy was co-operative. It couldn't heal my wound from the inside, but it would give me enough energy to keep going for a little longer. Hopefully i would get the chance to tend to it soon. If not..well, i'll be getting an afternoon nap.

"_Hey, let's go_" My eyes flickered open, my vision clear. Ragman and the others were already by the exit without me noticing, cherry looking at me curiously. Luckily the knife was no longer noticeable, at least; not to them. For me it digged impatiently into my skin, drawing more and more blood from it as each second passed. I really should tell them..but i can't.

I straightened my legs and followed them, doing my best to walk without hunching over; cherry's eyes constantly searching me. He must know something is wrong.

More trees in the river, more pitiful strands of land.

A clearing ahead, a mayan style tunnel entrance, ancient drawings carved into the cermaic. Then..a tank.

Sitting patiently in front of the tunnel, its nozzle and turret facing right at us.

"_Shit.."_ i groaned.

"_Stay low_!" Ragman roared and i was knocked to the ground as a boom rocked the river bed. Luckily on my back, the knife didn't sink in any further.

I blindly heard more cursing before a whoosh of a rocket and then another explosion. My vision was covered by waves of water and streaks of green. My world a watery one.

It filled my ears and my mouth, and i was filled with a sudden calm. Almost like i was drowning. I suppose that's what i was doing.

The river wasn't that deep, only knee height; but already it had claimed me, enticing me to its serene calmness.

Then there was fire, then choking.

My body was ripped out of the river, flattened against a pointy boulder; poking my back. I could hear voices around me, but still all i could see was the water and fire, almost..battling each other.

Choking, my body brought up a gush of water and then i could breathe once more. The water left my eyes, leaving a seriously concerned cherry in my view.

"_I'm..fine.._"

"_God lessa-_" he sighed with relief. "_I thought you'd drowned_" So, he didn't know about the knife then? The knife itself back to grind my insides, demanding to be noticed.

"_It's okay now, i must have fainted from lack of food or something_" Not telling what that something was.

"Mmm, well anyway. Ragman blew that tank to pieces, their checking out the entrance right now. Let's go" i nodded and took his hand, letting him pull me to a standing position.

He guided me to the now open entrance, one arm around my waist; barely missing the knife. The energy was working for now, my body still able to move despite the massive loss of blood.

"_So this is it huh?_" I had to refrain from gasping. There were icy stalagmites, marking the hollow tunnel walls. The ceilings were weaved from cobwebs alone, the actual rock formation lost under the floozy webbing. It had an air of mystery to it, a yellow glow of burning torches spiraling over the walls in pretty patterns. Some entrancing, some unreadable.

"_Yeah, it's a shame we gotta blow this place up_"

"_Mm_" I wouldn't mind the cobwebs being destroyed though. The little critters that made them freaked me out. If you asked me, there was nothing to like about them.

"_Where are the others?_" I asked, as we drifted of down the tunnel path.

"_We're right here_" the tunnel split into a fork of two directions and the others appeared from the left one.

"_This place is like a fucking maze, and i ain't gonna be no tunnel rat"_

_"Yeah, so lets hurry this up_" Junior was almost whining.

"_Are you alright now lessa?_" I nodded.

"_I'm fine sarge_"

"_Good to hear. You two, the first bunker is literally just a couple of meters away. Their stock room if intel serves me right. We should be able to find c4 in there. If we set a charge in that bunker, and two more; the whole thing should be taken out"_ Oh good, i hope this will be a quick job. My energy is starting to wane already.

Melanie was silent, still seething over the fact that i wouldn't tell them.

At ragman's motion, we took the left fork, passed through a particular stalagmitey path; and drew up in front of a bunker window. A turret gun was facing out over us, but the guard had evidently been removed already.

"_We're gonna have to climb through it, going around will take too much time_" I glanced down doubtfully at my wound.

Sigh, sometimes i don't know why i don't just kill them all and just heal myself. Then i see cherry's smile and think, perhaps another day.

Or never.

"_Lessa?" _

_"What?"_

_"Ladies first?_" I narrowed my eyes.

"_Not you too ragman!_" Yes i was a girl, but it didn't mean they could shove me through the window first just so they could look at my butt.

"_I-er, just thought..you could use a hand?_" And this says the guy who is happily married. Jeez.

"_Whatever, and i don't need a hand_" I stalked to the window, it coming up to my collarbone.

Slipping my arms inside, i pulled up and over; tumbling to the floor as the strength in my arms suddenly deserted me. I quickly sprang up, praying that they hadn't seen that. Thankfully, they hadn't.

Nausea piled up in my throat, my head swimming once more as i watched the others clamber in.

"_I'll just sit here a moment guys_" i waved them to go on ahead and look on the table without me; slumping down the back of the window boards. Cherry frowned again but went over to the table anyhow.

My legs trembled as i forced myself to stand again, the nausea really starting to overwhelm me.

"_Hey-guys...a little..hel-_" my legs turned to jelly and my body hit the floor with a thud. I was still conscious, trying to regain control as they hurried back over to me.

_"Lessa_!?" Cherry's voice had reached a decibel higher than usual.

"_Mhm..kni-knife.._" My hand flapped over my stomach uselessly. I was aware that i was becoming delirious.

I could see faint stars, painted all over cherry's looming face.

Cherry looked startled, then peeled away the bottom of the jacket; the knife blade springing free into view of everyone.

"_Oh shit! Why didn't you tell me!?_" He swore multiple times, starting to panic at the amount of blood.

I chuckled painfully. "_Y-you..never-asked_" I saw his hand go to his hair, tugging vehemently on the curls. His other hand drifted to the knife. I realized what he was doing with horror.

"_No, no, don't!_"

"_Lessa, i have to! It won't hurt for long" _

_"It..already does hurt.."_ His fingers locked on around the blade, gently starting to hook it out.

The tugging on my skin was too much, the next thing i knew was darkness.

My head swung helplessly from side to side when i came to. Slabs of grey stone rushing past was the only ground i could see. A pair of familiar boots running between them.

Then i remembered the knife, my hand immediately went to my stomach but found nothing. It was gone.

In its place was a gauzy bandage.

I shifted my head round, trying to look for an idea of where we were. It wasn't the tunnel, that was for sure.

"_Ah, your finally awake_" My eyes locked onto hoss's blue ones.

"_The hell?_" hoss and junior were running behind me, a cave entrance a few yards back.

"_You were out for ages, we planted all the c4 charges whilst cherry dealt with you. We're making the escape now_"

"_Oh?_" So that's why they were running. Cherry must be the one carrying me then.

I twisted my head back to the front, cherry's curls flicking before me. I was tempted to nuzzle into them, but i didn't want to startle him.

"_Hey fella's! Over here!_" I peered past cherry's head and saw the stone brothers; hiding behind some boulders.

We crossed the distance in mere moments, stopping as we hit the boulder mark. Cherry stopped, panting; and set me down onto the ground.

"_Are the charges set?"_

_"Affirmative, all charges set"_

_"Well then, what the hell are you waiting for? Trigger the charges!_"


	19. Chapter 19- Bloody Hue

Chapter Nineteen- Bloody hue

"_Well fella's, its been nice working with ya_" The tunnel's flames were just starting to die down, little clumps of rock falling and smashing to the ground every now and then. My wound ached a little as cherry probed it with a swathe of bandage, trying to retain the grimace of my face. Luckily it hadn't hit any main organs but i was still dying to heal it. I couldn't with all these people around though.

"_Likewise man, likewise_" Ragman and stone were talking, planning their next move. Hoss and junior were each smoking a cigar, hoss stealing concerned looks at me every other minute.

"_Ow!_" i winced as the bandage scraped the outside of the cut.

"_Sorry_" cherry smiled apologetically.

Suddenly birds flashed overhead, flying fast away from us. A purr of an engine filled my ears and a jeep appeared through the bushes.

Everyone grabbed their guns and cocked them at the jeep. I was still leaning over, reaching for my gun without splitting open my wound again. Man it sure did hurt.

"_Whoa! Don't shoot, marine corp!_"

"_Marine?_" Ragman and stone dropped their guns to their legs. The insignia now visible, painted brightly on the side strips of the jeep.

"_Well fellas, welcome to bloody hue_"

"_You call this a welcome?_" i said, raising my eyebrows at the state of the shit we were about to go in. In front of us were tanks and jeeps, each carrying soldiers into battle. The stone brothers were on one of them, somewhere. Coming out of the city however, was a different story. Smoke ridden, torn clothes, Innocent vietnamese civilians being led in single file away from a nightmare. The city was bleak and grey from all i could see here, as the jeep slowly lurched forward after a tank or jeep was admitted through the city gates. Above it was a cloud of fire, added to by each explosion and bullet fire. It was literally something taken from a horror story of sorts.

"_Aw sarge, why we always gotta go where the shit is deepest"_

_"Shit junior, you wanna live forever?_" Yet more marine corp talk. I never understood that one. Sure, they were accepting the fact that they could die; but there is a difference between embracing death as a friend or as a lover. Was it really necessary?

Soon it was us up front. The wheels of the jeep screeched to a halt, allowing us to jump down and climb over the rocks of a recently destroyed wall. It was just us now, all other soldiers had gone on ahead.

It was like stepping into a black and white picture. Inside all colours were grey, black and white. The only thing that was out of place was our green uniforms. Albeit slightly dust and smoke ridden.

The rain soon took care of that though, its river soaking us through; making us realize that this was reality, n0t a picture.

It was empty too. We marched up the cracked street, constantly looking for life within death. The place was utterly destroyed. What used to be houses were now just walls, clinging to each other by mere bricks to survive.

It didn't mean the entire city would be like this though, the fire cloud still loomed luminously above, bringing to our ears the sound of gunshots and grenades. Amongst other things.

Between the wrecked debris of buildings was a path, snaking its way behind the wreckage, leading to yet another street. The gun-shots got louder, the ground shaking harder. We wouldn't be alone forever.

"_What the fuck is this place?_" hoss dared to ask.

"_Its the old imperial castle of na'am_" Cherry said quietly. Ragman nodded.

"_The strategic point, that's why the charlie's and marines are here_" We turned the final corner and emerged into a full-scale panic. And we were on the side of the charlie.

"_Typical_" i tutted, lifted my rifle and blasted the charlie in front of us with bullets. They dropped to the pavement and i stepped over them carelessly.

"_Well?_" i stopped."_What are you waiting for?_" i asked.

"_Oh-uh-nothing_" ragman scratched his head and walked forward, crunching the head of a vc in the process. I could see marines up the top of the road, waving at us with a puzzled expression. The others marched over to them, i took my time instead. Drifting over, i heard the exchange of words.

"_Thanks for the help back there, so what can i do for you boys?_" Ragman saluted.

"_We're looking for the one hundred and first, can you tell us where they are?_" A black haired marine brushed his hand through his stubble of hair.

"_Affirmative, last we heard of one hundred and first was the attack by the river, north-east of here; near the citadel. There's a helipad about a click east of here, if you go you can probably hitch a ride there. We have no crew for that particular path but you can take the tank at the end of the road there-" he motioned down the road, a completely still tank sitting there. "We don't have any use for it. I wish you boys luck_"

Hmm, a tank. This would be my first time in one. They ran over to it immediately, cherry being the only one who waited for me.

"_Are you okay?_" he asked, glancing down at my bandaged wound. I smiled half-halfheartedly.

"_I'll be fine, don't worry about it_" He frowned, looking me over. His eyes seemed resigned, i wonder what he's thinking.

"_So..a tank huh?_" He stated calmly.

"_Our first time_"

"_A first is good, right?_" Of course, the first time we properly talked. All the way back in ghost town..it seems so long ago. It was when i had confronted him, telling him we'd make it through this war; that'd i'd begun to like him. A promise to keep...to get out of this war alive..together.

"_Of course, we'll make it you know_" His eyes took on a dreamy, faraway look.

"_Yes, yes we will_"

"_Hey!-" _

_"Hm?" "Get over here, we ain't got all day!_" Ragman cupped his hands together, using them as a speakerphone.

Cherry rolled his eyes. "_One day, we'll actually get time to ourselves"_

_"I sure hope so_" And i meant it.

The tank was a beauty. Pure, untouched metal. This. Was gonna be fun.

I clawed at the side, pulling myself up to the lid. My wound stretching painfully. Hmm..perhaps i should just sit this one out.

Carefully i slid into the back, taking up a passenger seat. I heard voices outside.

"_Watch your back, the road to the helipad is heavily guarded by enemy armour and infantry_"

"_We sure will, thanks for the help"_

_"No problem, semper fi_" Then there was a boom of hollow metal as bodies hit it from the outside.

Soon after cherry dropped in, then hoss. Finally ragman and junior. Ragman hardly took notice, and set himself into the driver's seat. Hoss clambered up onto the turret gun, almost automatically.

"_You gonna sit this one out huh?_" junior asked. I nodded apologetically, gesturing to my wound.

"_Hey, no worries man_" He placed a hand on either side of the rocket controller, completely absorbed in what he was doing. The treads started grinding violently beneath us and i sensed the tank had begun to move. Not that i could see the outside at all.

I scooted over, making room for cherry to join me as passenger.

"_Woohoo! here comes the fucking cavalry!_" hoss cried with extreme joy from above. Vaguely i could here explosions and gunshots, dulled by the walls of the tank. Everyone was engrossed in what they were doing, except cherry that was. When i turned to look at him, he was watching me.

"_Um, hi?_" He shuffled closer and my stomach fluttered nervously. How could i be nervous of someone i loved? Gah, still nothing made sense.

_'Just go with your instincts, remember'_

_'Oh yeah, look where that got me last time. Stark naked on a jungle floor in plain view of everyone_' she chuckled.

_'Oh well, you can't deny that you liked it' _Damn..she was right..as always.

_"I think we found that alone time_" cherry said.

"_Oh?"_

_"Mmhm_" shuffling a little closer until his body was up against mine. Two could play at that game. I lay back over the remainder of the seat, mocking a yawn and closing my eyes.

"_So that's how it is, huh?_" and suddenly i was lifted, over and onto his now sprawled out body; tilting dangerously over the edge of the passenger bench. My eyelids drew open lazily, his face now just a few centimeters below me. My wound throbbed angrily but my attention was no longer on it.

"_I got you motherfucker!_" I guess..the others wouldn't notice. Leaning my head down, i teasingly put my lips on his, sheathing my teeth to nibble on his lip. From the low groan i received, i think i was winning this game so far.

"_Oh fuck this_" he exclaimed and claimed my mouth with his own, his lips aggressively moving with mine. Another explosion seemed close by, but my mind was far-away. Numb from his kissing. I pressed my chest into his, wrapping my legs around his hips; a pressing bulge now digging into my crotch. I could feel my own sexual anticipation building.

"_Not here..this..isn't the time_" Not that that was my worry, my concern actually was. If we continued, i may not be able to refrain from crying out.

"_They won't notice.._" His voice was forced, low. My breathing becoming harder, and that was just at his voice. As much as my mind wanted to stop me, my body was being stubborn and un co-operative.

I heard the tell-tale whisper of undressing and he had invaded me before i knew it.

"_Cherry.._" A low moan escaped from my throat. I looked at the others anxiously, but to my relief they hadn't noticed.

Still inside me, he sat us up before pushing me down; this time him being on top. A slight pressure of weight pushing onto my wound but it was minor to the panic and lust that i was feeling.

"_It's doing a good job of distracting you from your wound..right?_" Was he serious? Was that was this was about, my god. I will kill him.

His beautiful brown eyes burned into me from above, making me think otherwise as he slid slowly out and in. This was crazy, i still couldn't believe he was doing this.

"_Uh..huh_.." Before i knew it, my hips were thrusting up to meet his and our pace quickened to the gun-fire and booming outside.

"_Fuck.._" and then there was an explosion of our own. Keeping quiet was most likely the most difficult task i had ever had in my life. But i managed it, minutely crying out into his mouth as i came.

He collapsed on top of me as he finished. We lay there for a few moments, me being satisfied but bitterly confused at all the panic i had felt. Then i punched his arm.

"_Hey! what was that for?_" he exclaimed.

"_You know what_" but i winked all the same. I was too exhausted to move but i had to pull on my uniform all the same, stuck in a mess of my own.

Oh well, i guess i asked for that one.

"_Your a dick_"

"_You know i have one_" I muttered inaudible words. He sat up, back pressed against the interior of the tank.

"_Ready for round two?_" I glared at him.

"_You have to be kidding me_" He chuckled.

"_I love you too_"

"_Hey, you alright back there?_" and for the first time, ragman turned in his seat to look at us. I then noticed the tank didn't seem to be moving anymore.

"_Oh-er, fine. Are we there yet?_"

"_You bet, let's get out of here_" Hoss and junior climbed down from their weapons and pulled themselves out of the lid of the tank. We followed awkwardly, ragman behind us unsuspecting.

We walked in a group towards the barricaded helipad. More serious-looking marines waving us over from their position between destroyed houses.

"_Hey, what's that smell?_" junior asked, sniffing the air.

"_What smell?_" hoss inquired.

"_Hey soldiers, thanks for the help back there!_" a gruff looking marine rushing up to shake ragman's hand.

"_If i didn't know better, i'd say it smelled like sex_"


	20. Chapter 20-Mobile Missiles

Chapter Twenty- Mobile Missiles

"_Strap in tight if i was you, its gonna be a bumpy ride_" the pilot advised as he tapped the dials above him, preparing for lift-of.

I slid the black belt across my stomach, but only loosely. With the way things were there was almost no doubt that we wouldn't be sitting for long.

"_How come_?" ragman asked, ignoring the warning and leaning over the back of their seats.

"_Well ever since the fourth battalion went on the offensive, the vc were able to steal our missile launchers. We've already lost three slicks this week, the bastards are using our own weapons against us_"

"_Well why don't you keep us low on the ground then?_" Junior panicked, thrashing to unclasp his seatbelt.

Ragman and the pilots laughed over the whir of helicopter blades and the chopper began to rise. It hung in the air for a moment before jolting forward. Leaving the bleak, grey city behind and being replaced with more green jungle.

"_Alright fella's, i'd get on them guns_" The pilot tapped one of the sensors, picking up enemy movement ahead.

"_Cherry, you stay low. It's gonna get hairy_" Ragman ordered, jerking his head towards the M-60's that lined both sides of the exterior chopper. I shuffled over by junior, seating myself with one that had full vision of the left half of ground below.

"_We'll be lucky to avoid getting a missile up the ass_" the co-pilot muttered.

"_Alright soldiers get ready! We're entering NVA territory now_"

"_Just a walk in the park fella's_" Ragman said.

"_Sarge, you forget that every darn slick we get near gets shot to shit_" Hoss reminded.

"_Too late now_" We flew over a crystal clear river, its innocence winking at us, encased by two moss-covered mountains.

"_Missile battery ahead!_" I glanced down, noticing a clearing below. Bustling with soldiers running between three missile holders. These must be the weapons they were talking about. I didn't even know they had these. They sure looked like they packed a punch. Each one of them carrying up to four missiles. But how the hell do we blow these things up?

"_Shoot the pins!"_ someone yelled as the machine guns started up. Pins? Oh, must be the trigger things underneath the actual missiles. Alrighty.

Bullets rocketed from my M-60, each sent down from hell themselves to an unsuspecting pin. The chopper was constantly moving, encircling the missile battery's like a hawk.

"_That's one down!_"

"_And another one!"_

Bullets bounced of the panels of the chopper, seemingly not aiming for us on the door guns, but with intention to blow us out of the sky. I pounced on a soldier that ran to the last battery, skewering his brains across it with a flash of a bullet. It cracked through his skull and clipped on the pin, blowing the whole thing up into flames.

"_That's the last of them, let's go_" The helicopter flipped around and flew of between a path that lay in the middle of more mountains. Underneath was a bush of tree tops.

"_Control this is five zero, we just encountered an NVA battalion. All missiles have been neutralized i repeat, all missiles neutralized_" The pilot's accent shaking from the aftershock.

"_Roger that five Zero_" The radio went dead once more.

"_We're still in one piece but we ain't out of the woods yet_" Trust ragman to be such a pessimist.

"_Pecker-wood ain't never gonna get out of the woods, that's his natural environment_" Junior joked from beside me. I paused and smiled. A sliver of laughter threatening to escape.

"_Fuck you, you ignorant motherfucker_"

"_If you two put as much energy into your guns we'd be outta the war by now"_

_"RPG!_" the rocket slammed into the metal beside me, causing a massive dent upon impact before dropping to the trees below. It was a little bit close for my liking, my stomach had flipped upside down in the event of it.

"_Motherfuckers!_" Below the trees thinned out, and a convoy of trucks were trundling their way over a carved path. I smacked the gun back into gear and fleshed a ton of bullets into the engines of the trucks, each imploding with a huge bang; causing the ones behind them to do the same in turn.

"_Wow_" hoss exclaimed.

"_What?_" i turned my head, my eyes and mouth completely straight.

"_You really can annihilate things when you try, can't you"_

_"Mm_" I twisted my body back to the outside world. Tendrils of black smoke reaching to grab us as we continued flying north.

"_This is five-zero, we have just encountered a group of NVA vehicles moving along the route niner-six-zero, i repeat; niner-six-zero_"

"_Okay, roger that five-zero_" How in the world did they even come up with these names? Honestly, niner-six-zero? I guess they weren't very creative in that department.

Over another mountain pass, lay more missile battery's. Three to be exact. Each were spaced out considerably, but a barrage of bullets were nothing to be held back.

"_Another one down_"

Each hit their designated pin and the whole thing was a burning furnace within moments.

"_Okay, we're outta here_" If i had to see another jungle, i was going to puke. Just endless streaks of green, blue, and goddam grey.

"_Control this is five-zero, we could do with some additional back-up here_" the co-pilot pleaded, visible sweat beads dripping down the back of his head. It seemed they were getting desperate. But i thought we were doing fine?

"_Roger five-zero, we'll see what we can do. Hang in there"_

_"Okay people, look for tanks, missiles, anything that's gonna try to blow us outta the sky_" Ragman ordered as we came into mountain base. This time a lot bigger. A pillar of rock in the center and mountains around, encasing it as one giant bowl. Streaks of orange and yellow added to the equation, huts built around the missile batteries, serving this as one base of power.

"_Missile battery's ahead!_" This time there was four, spread around the pillar as we flew in a more widespread circle.

"_Oh fuck this shit, let's go all out!_" I struggled to hold the door gun as its ferocious backlash bit into my arms. They felt like the bones themselves were snapping at the seams.

'_Concentrate on sending your energy to your arms, watch and see the power_' Melanie whispered.

"_Rrgh_" i growled. Straining from the pressure of keeping my arms on the gun and forcing my energy up through my body. As it flowed like liquid through the strings of muscle, something happened. It burst through my fingers and into the gun, forcing a mass outrage of bullets to their targets. It was subtle to the untrained eye, unnoticeable to the others; but it happened.

Again they were destroyed, cheers raising from the cockpit; despite the radar bleeping up another set of missiles.

Over and under besieged trees trees, hanging over us in protection. Its fragile leaves ripped apart as AA guns started up from the ground. Another broken piece to add to a collection.

Then there was a whoosh above, planes dropping their load in front of us; pounding the ground into dust.

"_I fucking hate the smell of napalm_" junior protested, pinching his narrow nose with a bony finger. The smoke grinding the cockpit window as we passed through its debris.

"_This is five-zero, a big thanks for that. Hope to see you guys soon_" Cherry was lying beneath a seat, looking relieved that no-one had been seriously hurt yet. He smiled at my gaze, his eyes lighting up and his lips lifting delightfully. Oh cherry..

The last base was below us now, just like the first two. Three missile battery's, each as un-prepared for us as the rest.

"_Lets do this!_" i cried encouragingly, overcome by that silly feeling once more.

Four guns smashed missile casings into dust, silenced, unmoving; dead everything below.

"_Five-zero, this is control; what's going on?!_"

"_Control this is five-zero, we just encountered the last of those stolen surface to air missiles, again all of them have been destroyed_"

The helicopter fluttered low over the last of the mountains, a crevice of village beneath us.

"_Roger that five-zero, see you soon_"

"_RPG!_" A rocket smacked into the front, completely wiping out the electrical equipment up front, the pilots barely alive from backing away.

"_We're going down!_"


	21. Chapter 21- Citadel

Chapter Twenty-One- Citadel

"_I ain't never setting foot in another fucking bird again, so help me"_

_"We're in the middle of vc fucking central"_

_"So your surprised?_" Cherry patted the bandage he had just tied around junior's leg and stood up.

"_Four fucking days!"_ Junior exclaimed angrily. Behind us the surviving pilot was tinkering with the radio, attempting to call for help.

"_Well i've had enough of this shit-_" ragman took a final toke of his cigar before stubbing it on the ground. "We can either sit here and wait to be killed or.." Tank treads suddenly rumbled behind us and a tank roared its way through the village gate.

"_Look out_!" we leaped to the side behind a house just as the tank fired at the chopper. The pilot was too late and both he and the chopper exploded.

"_Shit_!" my heart raced as we hid behind the house. What the hell were we gonna do? I threw my eyes across the back of the village and with joy, noticed a tank. It was a civilian model, capable of launching 6 consecutive rockets at a time before having to cool down. It would have no trouble taking out the tank that steadily rumbled forward to us. Before us were screaming villagers, running wildly into houses.

"_Over there! An APC, civilian model!_" Ragman gave me a thumbs up.

"_Alright boys. get in that APC_!"

It was only centimeters away from us and we launched ourselves into it quickly. I planted myself into the gunner's seat, hoss taking up the rocket launchers behind me. Ragman jumped into the driver's and flipped the tank into gear. The other tank appeared in our line of sight and i was forced to duck into the tank as hoss activated the missile's; the entire thing shaking as each rocket was launched.

The other tank didn't stand a chance and the entire thing was misshapen and black as charcoal once the rockets were finished with it. Phew. I wiped a bead of sweat of my face and popped my head back up through the hole above.

As the smoke cleared from the burning tank, i could see a trail leading away from the village. It must lead to the city. I leaned back and awaited ragman's orders.

Below me the tank slowed to a halt and i heard ragman step out of the tank.

"_Let's search the area for supplies_" cherry and junior also left the tank and started scrounging in the houses. Remaining villagers were cowering on the rock hard earth, slowly bringing their hands away from their heads to look if the area was clear. They didn't seem to concerned by us.

"_Hey lessa, aren't you coming?_" cherry called.

"_Nah, i'll stay up here in case the enemy appears"_

_"Same here_" hoss said. Oh, i'd almost forgotten about him. I then felt a hand on my leg.

"_You better not try anything_" i snarled from gritted teeth. The hand withdrew instantaneously.

"_Good_" i leant over the exterior of the tank and basked in the flames of the sun. My hair falling in waves over my face. It felt nice, maybe i should let it grow out a little. Would cherry like long hair? why do i even care. I'm not trying to impress him, i'm only going to have to leave as soon as this war's over.

"_Ah.."_ i sighed deeply as cherry and the other two returned. They swung supplies into the back and got in.

"_Here lessa"_

_"Hmm?_" Ragman passed up an RPG-7.

"_A rocket launcher? I've never used one of these before_" It was thin in width but was pretty long. I stroked its harsh lining. This was the thing that caused us a lot of trouble back in the jungles we'd passed through.

"_Don't worry about that, it's easy enough to figure out. I found it back in one of the huts. Seems these villagers were prepared"_ He withdrew back into the front of the tank.

"_Sure thing sarge, whatever you say_" i rolled my eyes. I pulled myself up to a standing position as ragman threw the tank back into gear, rolling up the jungle trail. The treads grinded up dirt which soon turned to patio slabs as the city rolled up into view. We passed through the proportioned gate and were greeted by a welcoming committee of vc. I slung the RPG-7 over my shoulder and grabbed hold of the machine gun in front of me. It was a greeting exchange of bullets.

"_Say, hoss-"_ ragman said casually as he mowed down a few vc.

"_Yeah sarge?_"

"_How many of those rockets we got left?_" Hoss shifted behind me to check.

"_18 sarge"_

_"Alright then, hows abouts we greet them with a little explosion?"_

_"You bet sarge_" Oh great, not again. The tank shook violently as the rockets were released into the wall ahead, scattering vc bodies all across the path ahead of us. I struggled to hold onto to the gun, pausing my shooting so that i didn't fall out.

Ragman swung the tank to the right and we passed through a city arch into a stadium type area. Apparently things were getting serious as a tank sat waiting in the centre.

"_Blast it!"_

_"Oh fuck this!"_ I ducked down into inside and desperately clutched the interior of the tank. It felt like the entire thing was tearing apart from the outside.

After a couple minutes of this, the tank stopped shaking and it was quiet outside. It seemed somehow we were still alive.

I popped my head back up through the hole again and a destroyed arena caught my attention. The only thing that was still standing was half a house beside a towering gate.

Thank god we're still alive. My body relaxed a little, the RPG clashing with my hip.

"_No time to rest soldiers, we gotta keep moving"_ ragman said as if he could sense that i had relaxed. We groaned but dutifully clambered down and out of the tank. We couldn't get through the gate with the tank, but the half-destroyed house probably provided a way around it into the middle of the city.

I cocked my gun, following behind hoss and junior. Luckily the lower part of the house was still intact, a corridor leading around the gate and outside into the centre of the city. It was dark inside and the sunlight was harsh to my eyes as we stepped outside again. This time the houses were a bright yellow, contrasting to the blackened city's we had seen so far. There were yet to be touched by destruction, the dull sounds of gunshots and booming in the distance.

Strangely the centre of the city was silent, no NVA soldiers to be seen. They must be residing within the houses.

I was no longer tired, the scent of something hung above us, clinging to every being. A taint of something only created in war, the scent of victory. But which side was it for?

Only time will tell.

I felt the others on guard, hyped by this feeling. We slunk into the house in front of us, my stomach tightened in relentless knots. The downstairs was just one room, tables and chairs scattered across the tiled flooring. A radio tossed aside, papers streaming from a table to a floor. My heart returned to its thumping state and i had an urge to cling to cherry. It wasn't fear, i couldn't tell what this new feeling was.

We fell to complete stand-still when footsteps paced above. They were upstairs!

The stairs themselves were shrouded in darkness, my eyes could see through it, but only just. After all, the light of night is nothing to one who has been smothered in darkness their whole life.

"_Guys, stay here...i'll deal with them_" i whispered, unwrapping the RPG-7 from its hold on my shoulder.

This would come in use after all.

"_U-ah-..okay_" ragman was stunned but i think he understood.

"_I'll be fine_" i told cherry. I walked past him as he reached for me, but this time i dodged his grasp.

The stairs were solid and enabled me to creep up them easily, not a sound being made. From what i could see, there was only one room up here too. It was enveloped in a sea of dark blue, i wondered how the vc could see. I dropped lithely to the carpeted floor, placing the RPG-7 in front of me. It extended into the doorway of the room.

I tilted it up a little into dead centre,

"_Gedi-_" 'Whoosh' the rocket left and almost dragged me with it. I struggled to stay to the floor, as my whole world went bang.

'BANG!' the room seemed to shift sideways and i flung out a hand to the staircase to keep from falling. The whole room upstairs seemed to be coming apart.

"_Holy cow!"_ hoss yelled as he slipped across the rocking tiles. Upstairs was a scream before the shaking stopped and dust fell to settle on the stairs.

_"Lessa!"_ hoss roared as he scrambled up the stairs, ragman and junior storming after him. I was frozen, c-could she have survived an explosion like that. I hadn't even thought about that when i let her go! Is that why she turned away from me? No, lessa!

I willed my feet to move and i ran up those stairs faster than ever before. It was only 13 steps but it seemed like an endless elevator.

I panted as i reached the top, darkness smothering me, but no one to be seen. I could just make out the former room, half of it was gone and sunlight sprung in from the missing wall.

I then saw them, four silhouettes of shadow in the sun. Stood tall on a balcony outside. I inched towards them, them motionless; watching the events below. I stopped when i reached lessa.

We stood above the arena we had obliterated, two sides of men below. Both were shooting til only one was left. A last bullet flying, impaled the final NVA soldier, and a roar of approval from the last living soldier on our side. I watched in disbelief as he darted forward to a flagpole, whipped out a flag; and tied it to the pole.

Its colours were blue, red and white. The flag of freedom.

More soldiers arrived and cheers were raised raucously below us. W-was it over?

Ragman's hand appeared at my shoulder. I turned in surprise. His face was masked, a straight line of mouth.

"_Well soldiers, we did it_"

N-no!

"_That's it! We did it! We fucking did it!_"

The war was over,

But it couldn't be, could it?


	22. Chapter 22- The end of one War

Chapter Twenty-Two- The end of one war

Today we left.

Our chopper and many others were zooming back over the Vietnamese jungles, but this time in a different direction. America. Their home. It brought back so many memories. I had changed so much but there was no denying it, i would have to leave soon.

I couldn't bear to say anything to cherry. He had a huge smile on his face, he was overjoyed at the prospect of going home. Even junior was quiet, hoss was smiling vaguely, and ragman was looking out over the ocean we were now crossing. It would ruin the moment.

_'Love will always win and bad will always sin,_

_That's the way its always been' _ But that's the problem mama. Bad will always sin, and i have to be the one to stop that. So how can love win? I can't stay here with cherry and fight marissa. I almost felt like crying.

"_Welcome home boys, you did us proud_" So much clapping and cheering as we descended from the plane. I smiled shyly, i didn't really want the credit, i was just glad to be home.

Everybody was smiling except lessa. In fact she looked sad. But before i could go over to her, the colonel appeared and we were forced to stand tall in a line. In his hands were army commendation medals and others i didn't recognize. I stood straight, my eyes facing forward as he tacked a medal onto my uniform. I felt a twinge of honour for myself and the soldiers beside me.

The medal awarding service took longer than i'd expected. So many tears were wrought and everyone was emotional in some way as they met their loved ones. Except me and my squad. I already knew there would be no one waiting for me, but it surprised me that none of the others did. Especially ragman, he was married after all.

"_I'm sure she'll be waiting at home_" he said but he seemed a little doubtful even so. After the ceremony we had drifted away from the others, standing awkwardly on the outskirts of the base. It was obvious through the unspoken words between us. We didn't know how to leave.

The sunset spread its glow across the city, the dying embers of yet another day. Most had left by now, gone home to their family's for the first meal together in a long time.

_'Lessa, its time'_

_'Already?..'_

_'I'm afraid so, you really need to get a move on_' I looked down at my hands that had held cherry's just hours ago; still tingling from his touch. Now they were trembling, and a solitary tear dropped onto them, spreading into a tiny river.

_'I-i can't do it melanie..you said yourself we had come here for a reason. If that reason is cherry then how can i leave?!_' I felt her features soften. She had no answer.

"_Aw man, i cant do this!_" junior suddenly said in frustration. We looked at him with surprise.

"_Do what?_" ragman asked.

"_This is stupid, i don't wanna leave you guys, why's it gotta end this way! i thought i just wanted to get home, i said it so many times because i was desperately trying to convince myself, but it hasn't worked man; it just hasn't worked!_" I saw the others look down at the ground.

"_He's right. I just can't bring myself to leave. I've nothing but an empty house to go back to_" Hoss admitted.

"_Me too_" cherry looked over at me. I had never mentioned anything about where i lived before. Only hoss knew what i meant.

"_Lessa.._" Cherry whispered. Ragman scuffed his boot on the dusty pavement.

"_You guys are so soppy..but i can't bring myself to leave you either. I'm sure my wife wouldn't mind if you came to dinner or something.."_My eyes flew open in renewed hope.

"_R-really?" _

_"Sure. So how about it?"_

_"I'm in man!_" Junior leaped forward and high-fived hoss.

"_You bet!_" Hoss rubbed his stomach. The three of them then looked between me and cherry.

_'Lessa..._'

"_O-of course_" i faked a smile of happiness, forcing back the tears that threatened to choke me.

"_Cherry?"_ I turned to him, begging him with my heart and eyes.

He smiled at me with his eyes. "_Wouldn't miss it for the world_"

"_This is it. Home sweet home_" Ragman took a deep breath before pushing open the wooden door. We trotted in after him, taking in ragman's house. For some reason the hall was bare and everything felt wrong. We stopped and ragman ran forward into the next room.

"_Tanya!_?" he cried as he rushed from room to room, his voice echoing of the bare walls. Then i noticed the only thing left in this room. A stack of papers left on a rickety old table. Bending forward, a note was visible.

'_Dearest frank,_

_I regret to say i have been forced to leave you. You have been away at war too long and another has given me the attention i need. I have taken half of the things we shared between us, and i left you your dog ho chi minh. Please fill out these divorce papers upon your return so that me and my James can finally get married. _

_Wishing you the best,_

_Tanya'_

It was too awful. Ragman had appeared beside me, and he too read the horrible note.

"_Oh ragman..i'm so sorry_"

I picked up the stoke and poked the logs into submission. Embracing the sweet burn of the flames as they licked at my fingers. Behind me, sitting on the bare floorboards were the others. Each with a bottle of whiskey, drinking themselves into a stupor. My own bottle sat beside me but i wasn't in the mood to drink. The drink was bringing the talk out of them. Their chatter growing louder as they reminisced over the moments we had spent together. Ragman was laughing but it was just a cover for his pain.

I couldn't believe that his wife would do such a thing.

"_Hey, you remember that time that cherry and lessa were outside without any clothes on? and, and, junior rushed to see lessa but she was already dressed by the time he got there!_" they burst into more raucous laughing.

On second thoughts i regret feeling sorry for ragman.

"_Hey lessa, come join us_" cherry smiled, his arms wide open inviting me in. I sighed but replaced the stoke in its holder and shuffled over to sit on cherry's lap.

"_What's up?_" he asked, seeing i wasn't exactly jumping for joy. I took a swig of whiskey.

"_Nothing, i'm just tired_" i brewed up a fake yawn. It was half-hearted but it fooled him enough.

"_Yeah me too, hey ragman, where should we sleep?_"

Ragman thought for a moment. "_Ah you can have my bed. I won't be needing it any more..._" His voice took on a tone of sadness and he downed the rest of his bottle before grabbing another.

"_Alright, we'll see you in the morning then_" cherry stood and offered me a hand, pulling me to my feet.

"_Night!_" came the three drunken replies.

Cherry tugged my hand further down the darkened corridor before opening a room on the far end. A double bed stood prominently in the room. Cherry stared at it thoughtfully.

"_Are you sure all you wanna do is sleep?_" i smiled slightly.

"_Yes, i'm sure_"

"_Aw damn_" but he was only joking.

I hoped sleep would bring me a relief from pain.


	23. Chapter 23-Visitors

Chapter Twenty-Three- Visitors

The night was stuffy and the air was claustrophobic. In the pyramids of alexanderena; this was a normal night, but for the girl from the future, this was anything but normal.

I awoke in discomfort, the air of night pressing all around me. My eyes flickered open to a place that wasn't ragman's house. I jumped to a start, quickly raising my guard. Where was i?

All around i was surrounded by orange brick walls, torches hung in a systematical order around this room i was now in, giving the place a serene aura. Yet, something bad hung in the air.

Suddenly i heard footsteps, two pairs about to enter the room. I quickly searched for an area to hide but could find none, the room was too open!

"_Don't worry, this is the past. They will not be able to see you_"

"_W-what?_" i then noticed the god stood beside me. With the head of a jackal and a body of an Egyptican warrior. His name was Anubis. The god of death. What was he doing here?

"_The past, lessa listania_" Well sure. I'd got that part but what the hell was i doing here.

"_There's something i have to show you here. You must watch closely for i cannot do this again, i am already risking my life by doing this_" Risking his life? Wow, extreme.

The footsteps came closer and two people entered the room. A young girl dressed in a long ivory dress, and a man in typical Egyptican loincloth. Both seemed strangely familiar yet i couldn't quite place my finger on it. Did this mean i was on Egyptica?

"_Lessa_-" the man was saying, "_You must be crowned today. It is your fifteenth birthday, i cannot wait no longer. I am not as young as i used to be, and you are my only heir_" He placed a muscular hand upon the girl who was evidently his daughter. "_I know your upset about Matta, we all are. He was an amazing man but do you think he would want you to be upset on your birthday? He wouldn't and you know it_"

"_I guess your right dad_" lessa said, knotting her hands together.

"_Of course i am, now i expect to see you in the dining hall in an hour, okay?_"

"_Yes dad_" Was..was this me?

"_Yes lessa, this is you in the past. This is not what i wanted you to see though, that comes a bit later on. Perhaps we should skip forward a bit_"

Without warning, my spirit itself was tugged into oblivion. What seemed years away but was actually only seconds, we emerged onto a staircase. The girl, me, was looking around shiftily at the bottom of the staircase, before pulling a lever on the pyramid wall; opening a secret panel that grated the floor as it slid open.

She bent down and peered inside, musty steps leading into the basement. It was all coming back now, her, me; today was the day we were murdered. The very same scorpion that i had thrown aside that day, ignoring the signs; crawled over her feet. She picked it up by its tail and threw it with distaste, the scorpion landing unharmed a few metres away; before crawling of again.

With no further ado, she pushed herself of into the basement and descended down the cracked steps. I had no choice, my body moved by itself; i was forced to follow her. I would have to relieve my murder.

Down the steps, led to a room with no end. Her, me was now sat on a overturned sarcophagus, not realizing it was soon to be her coffin. Tears streamed down her face, she was morning the death of her loved one; for today was the one year anniversary of his death.

Then her steps and another's echoed down around the basement, scorpions and scarabs scuttled away in fear.

She was coming, and there was nothing i could do to stop her.

She looked up, surprise in her eyes as Marissa turned the corner and stood blocking the exit. Her bodyguard, Denio, the one with the pinched face and crooked eyes; lurched forward, an evil smile lighting up his face.

"_Marissa, what are you doing here?_" she still didn't suspect anything.

Marissa stalked forward, her sandals scuffing the dirt.

"_I hear today is your coronation day, am i right?_" Her voice was low, dangerously low. Realization dawned on lessa.

"_Marissa..you wouldn't_"

"_Oh but i would_" Lessa stood up warily, backing away until her back was against another sarcophagus.

"_It..it was you wasn't it? You killed Matta!"_Marissa and Denio cackled.

_"Yes, you should have seen the look on his face. See, if i couldn't have him, there was no reason you should. I killed him just like your brother, just like i will your father. I will be the one to rule over this planet!_"

"_You fool! My father will find you out! You won't get away with it!_"

"_We'll see. Denio, you know what to do_" I couldn't watch anymore, i didn't want to see this. I turned my head away as Denio stepped up to lessa and grabbed her.

"_No lessa! You must watch!_" Anubis cried.

"_No! I don't want to see my own death!_" Memories of being enclosed, screaming as i was burnt alive inside the sarcophagus.

"_You must!_" My eyes were forced open by his magick, i had no choice but to watch as Denio forced me into the sarcophagus, slamming shut the door. Laughing as i pummeled my fists on its casing to no avail.

Then, something i hadn't seen before happened. Black swirls began to brew up around marissa, darkness itself eating her soul.

"_Whats going on_!" i yelled.

"_Just watch!_" he called back over the rush of screams and darkness.

Running over her body until it reached her palms. She flung them out, facing the calm tar at the corner of the room. The darkness seemed to smile and slithered over to the tar, heating it up upon its touch. The tar bubbled and spat, encasing the sarcophagus in boiling slime.

The screams grew louder, more deranged. Anubis was gone, Marissa and Denio were dancing; and we were screaming, united in our fear of death.

"_AHH!_" i screamed, sitting up with a jolt. My heart pounded and i took a moment to realize it was just a dream.

"_Not quite Lessa_"

"_Huh?_" Beside the bed was a woman, not Melanie..another. I instinctively knew she was a goddess.

"_Correct, goddess of scorpions. I'm the reason that your still alive_"

"_Scorpions.._" i narrowed my eyes. "_So your the voice inside me_"

"_Correct again_"

"_Anymore goddesses inside me that i should know about melanie_" i asked sarcastically, peeved that she hadn't told me.

"_I assumed you already knew, in a way_" Melanie stepped out from the shadow of the window, arms folded.

"_And no, just me and serquet. Like she said, she's the reason your still alive_"

"_Because of the incident when i was five?_"Great, was tonight beat lessa up with the past, night or what?

"_Yes_"

"_I see_"

"_Yeah, count yourself lucky. It's not exactly a joy listening to your every conversation and watching every action_"

"_Well, why don't you leave sometimes, and why didn't you tell me you were there before!?_"

"_One, if i leave for more than thirty minutes; you will die. And two, we thought you wouldn't be able to handle the information_"

"_And you think i can now_?" i raised an eyebrow.

"_It wasn't my decision. If you have a problem, go discuss it with Anubis_"

"_Already here_"

"_Oh for christ's sake, i'm not holding a god/goddess parlour in here_" i snapped. I couldn't believe cherry was still asleep beside me. He slept like a rock.

"_You know, that was almost funny_"

"_Oh be quiet serquet!_"

"_Oh, you know my name then_?"

"_Scorpion goddess Serquet, wasn't too hard to figure out. It's not like i didn't learn about gods and goddesses or anything_"

"_Look, we're not hear to argue with you, lessa. I need to know that you got the message in the dream_" Anubis looked tired, i guess he didn't hang around other people much, being the god of death and all.

Oh great, back to marissa again.

"_She was using black magick right?_"

"_Yes, the very darkest there is_"

"_But i already knew that_"

"_No, you didn't know that she was using it back then. It's important_" I frowned.

"_Why?_"

"_Because..you'll find out someday. Besides, we wanted you to see what your up against_"

"_A psychopathic, delusional queen of darkness?_" Melanie rolled her eyes.

"_Be serious lessa_"

"_Alright, alright. I get the point_"

"_Good. Now its been nice meeting the prophecy child-_" serquet snorted from the corner "_but i have to get back to my work_"

"_Yeah, i forgot. Anubis loves his dead people_" Serquet smirked.

"_Can it serquet, you wait til your dead and i'm judging you on the scales_"

"_What you gonna do? Feed me to the dogs_?" Anubis lifted his hand up and flipped her of. Unbelievable. To think that gods and goddesses these days were so childish. Serquet stuck out her tongue as he dematerialized into thin air.

"_Whatever, i'm off too_" Serquet then disappeared.

"_I'm so confused right now_"

"_Ma!_" I cried before jerking to a seating position. I had fallen of the sofa and was lying on the floorboards, entangled in blankets.

Oh, it was just a dream. It had seemed so real though..

"_You okay?_"

"_Lessa!?_"

"_Hi there_" she hung on the doorframe, wearing nothing but boxers and a bra, her taut stomach showing in the shivering moonlight glow. I tried to refrain from looking, it proved difficult.

"_Nightmare?_" she asked inquisitively.

"_Yeah_" She let go of the doorframe and came further into the room.

"_Mind if i sit here_?" I patted the blanket in response. "_Thanks_" She sat on the bottom square of the blanket, knotting the loose threads between her fingers.

"_Wanna tell me what it was about?_" I blushed.

"_It was just a bad dream about my ma. I haven't seen her in a while, and i have a really bad feeling about her_" She tilted her head as if thinking.

"_Well..why don't you go and visit her? We are back in America after all_" Hey she's right!

"_Good idea, hey..would you mind coming with me?_" it was a small hope, i didn't really want to go on my own.

"_Sure, why not"_

"_Do you think cherry will mind?_" He might not like it, it was common knowledge that i liked her; a lot. As much as i would win in a fight, i didn't want to piss of lessa. I had already felt her fists of fury and didn't fancy reliving the experience again.

"_Na_" She smiled. I started to feel sleepy again, despite that i enjoyed talking with her.

"_Hey, how come your awake so late?_" She shifted uncomfortably.

"_Melanie woke me up. She said i should check on you_" Oh..strange. I had the feeling she wasn't telling me the whole truth but i didn't want to blow it by pushing her.

"_Well anyway, i'm really tired. I think i might go back to sleep now_" i patted the pillow behind me, thinking i might as well stay on the floor in case i fell of again.

She yawned and tugged her hand through her tussled hair.

"_Mmm, mind if i join you? I'll probably pass out if i walk back to the room_" W-what, was i hearing right?

"_U-uh of..of course_" I shuffled across the floor to make space.

"_Thanks_" she smiled gratefully and lay beside me, turning onto her side. I tossed her some of the blanket before curling up myself. Wow.. Her back was to mine and i could feel the warmth of her body radiating against mine.

Suddenly i felt wide-awake. I had butterflies in my stomach...and my pants.


	24. Chapter 24- Lone Bomber

Chapter Twenty-Four- Lone bomber

Morning came swiftly and preparations were made for the visit to hoss's ma's house. I say preparations, i meant convincing cherry that i would be fine, and attempting to get through breakfast without killing someone. I wasn't much of a morning person, especially not when my sleep's been interrupted by a bunch of childish gods and goddesses.

'_I thought you would've forgotten about that by now_'

'_Yeah right, keep dreaming_'

"_So you promise to kick hoss in the nuts if he try's to make a move on you?_" Cherry asked for the fifth time already. It was sweet though, the guy was afraid to loose me.

"_Yeah yeah, i promise_" i rolled my eyes. I stuck the toothbrush back into my mouth, attempting for the second time to brush my teeth without interruption.

"_Good, now give me a hug_" He grabbed me from behind and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.

"_Cherry!_" i protested through a mouthful of toothpaste.

"_Its no use trying to resist_" he grinned playfully.

"_Oh please, get a room_" Hoss said as he walked past.

"_We're in one if you hadn't noticed!_"

"_Yeah, that's called the bathroom, not the bedroom!_"

"_He has a point you know_" ragman called, not bothering to look up from his newspaper.

"_Yeah, and so does my fist_" i had finally given up brushing my teeth and spat out the toothpaste.

"_Hoss, i'm ready to go now_" Cherry let go of me and and i took one last look in the mirror whilst tugging my fingers through my hair. It had grown quite a bit, it was sitting placidly on my shoulders. Perhaps i should grow it out, my hair had been short as long as i could remember; a change was in order.

"_Oh good, my beard's getting in need of a trim here_"

"_You don't even have a beard.._"

"_Exactly_"

"_I don't get it?_"

"_Let's just go already_" Hoss paced past impatiently and threw open the front door.

"_Bye cherry_" I reached up on my tiptoes and kissed him, enjoying his slight grimace as the taste of toothpaste invaded his mouth.

"_Bye lessa, be safe_"

"_I will, stop worrying_" I waved goodbye to ragman and junior and strode out through the open door.

"_I love you!_" cherry called, blowing a kiss. I pretended to catch it and blew one back.

"_I love you too!_" and then the door blew shut. I sighed contentedly.

"_Done now?_" I rolled my eyes skyward again.

"_Yes, just take us to your mom's house already_"

"_So this is your mom's house!?_" i exclaimed. It was beautiful. Rolling hills of green lushness and stocky animals wandering around happily. The farmhouse was a hazel brown, sunlight shined on it; making it look like a farm from a fairytale.

"_Yup_" he said proudly. This place was amazing, how did hoss have so much pent-up energy from living here?

We stood at the bottom of the grey-stone path, gazing in wonder at its beauty when a rounded woman emerged from the house, beaming as she noticed hoss.

"_Ma!_" He ran up to her, throwing his arms around her middle when he reached her.

I stayed, watching enviously. I didn't want to intrude on their moment but i couldn't help feeling jealous. I sure wish i had a mom like that, actually. I wish i had a mother to begin with. I didn't count the earthling woman, she wasn't my real mother and she'd never cared for me anyway.

My ma was as cuddly as ever. It was obvious she had been expecting me if the smell of bacon was anything to go by. She only ever made bacon when i visited, her sixth sense always warning her when i was coming. When my ma let me go, inspecting me at arms length, i noticed lessa watching us wistfully. I wonder where her family was. When we were at her house, i remember her saying i could have her parents bed, that they didn't need it anymore. What could have happened to them?

Suddenly her expression changed, she looked away to the sky; a frown on her face.

"_My hoss, your getting ever so skinny. It looks like i need to fatten you up_" she then followed my line of gaze.

"_So who's that? She your girlfriend?_"

"_Mom!_"

"_Whats wrong with your mama asking huh?_" I squirmed under her knowing gaze.

"_Well..i wish she was but she's with another soldier in my squad_" I glared at the thought of cherry. Why did he have to get the girl? Maybe she liked shy, weak guys.

"_Ohhh i see_" Her face lit up with a smile that i knew only too well.

"_What is it ma?_" She had a plan up her sleeve. I could tell. She tapped a finger on her nose.

"_Ah well, i know something you don't my boy. But i tell you this, that girl's gonna come to you. Just you wait and see_" hmm. I wonder what she saw.

When i looked at lessa again, she was sprinting towards us, fear on her face; mouthing words that i couldn't make out.

"_What's up with her?_"

"_I don't know_" but it can't be good.

"_Run!_" she yelled as she drew closer. What? Suddenly a drone could be heard and a drop of a missile before my face hit the dirt, mud in my eyes as i rolled down a grass field.

Then everything exploded, air rushed over me; burning the tip of my head. I tried to open my mouth but only received dirt. The ground was shaking, it felt like the world was being torn apart.

Five minutes later, my senses returned, and the world stopped shaking.

I lifted my face from the dirt, seeing lessa and my ma doing exactly the same thing. Shaking mud from my hair and ears, dread filled my heart as i saw the damage. From beside me my ma gasped. The farmhouse and fields around it were completely destroyed. In a blackened field lay a burning bomber plane, the Vietnamese flag symbol emblazoned largely on it. A lone bomber, all this caused by a lone bomber.

I stood and gave my ma my hand, helping her up through her shock. Lessa was already standing, gazing sorrowfully at the ruins of the farmhouse.

"_I'm sorry_" she said.

"_What are you sorry for? You saved us!_" my ma cried and threw her arms around a stunned lessa.

"_I-it was nothing_" she said awkwardly, trying to pull away from my ma.

"_Thanks lessa_" i said finally.

"_It was the least i could do hoss. I just wish i could have saved your farmhouse_"

"_Hey, you saved our lives, that's all that matters_" We watched as marine cars drew up and surrounded the burning wreak of a plane.

"_What will you do now ma?_" i asked.

"_Well, i'll go shack up at my ma's house in new york. We women gotta stick together you know. Besides i can finally check out the city. Don't you worry about me hoss_" Phew, at least my ma was okay. I guess that dream really was a warning. I dread to think what would have happened if lessa hadn't have been here. If she hadn't have pushed us down the hill.

"_Well, i'll be of now. Gotta ring up the ma and catch me a train. Good luck hoss_" she winked and skipped down the path. That was my ma for you, happy as a bunny. Maybe all that whiskey does her good.

"_Good luck with what, hoss?_" Lessa smiled. I think she had a pretty good idea. Perhaps there was hope for us after all. Some day.

"_Nothing, race you back to ragman's!_" And grinned wickedly as i ran.

"_Hey! No fair! You got a headstart!_" she protested storming after me.

Something was different when we drew up by ragman's house. For a start an airship now sat in the back yard, towering over the house. Oh no...

"_What the heck is that thing!_" hoss asked.

"_I don't know.._" i replied but i did. I knew all to well what it was. My past was back to haunt me.


	25. Chapter 25- Revelations

Chapter Twenty- Five- Revelations

We stood, five on each side. Me and the rest of the squad, against the five strangers; except, they weren't strangers to me. As much as it pained me, i recognized them from a blurred memory of the past.

A five year old girl with chocolate hair and eyes sat playing on the floor. Surrounded by shreds of paper, continuing to shred more with her bare hands. Across the hallway, in a room of darkness; a father was torturing a mother.

The girl was neither angry or sad, instead pretending the floor was her friend. Feeding the bare floorboards the scraps of paper. She was used to being lonely and had developed an imagination far beyond the norm to accompany her in her loneliness. Little did she know, alongside her was a goddess; watching over her with a pained expression. An expression that turned to shock as the air rippled with energy.

The girl stopped her shredding and looked up expectantly, thinking it was just another part of her imagination running amok. If only it was.

The rippling became a swirl, and soon a circle of purple. The air was being sucked inside the portal, and the paper lifted slightly into the air. The girl stood and ran over to the portal joyfully, laughing as she went. The parents in the room beside her oblivious. The goddess watched in horror as the girl placed a finger on the swirling mass of energy, and was violently sucked inside. A bottomless pit of what was to be hell.

The goddess extended her hand helplessly to the now calm air, the portal having disappeared with the girl.

Elsewhere a portal opened in another world, and deposited a small girl onto the ground. A large women laughed gleefully before issuing an order to a beefy guard beside her. The guard nodded and swung the unconscious girl over her shoulders before marching down the bland corridor.

A prison door was opened into a room of no light, a figure hunched up in the corner, trying to avoid the gaze of the guard. The girl was chucked into the room, awakening with a start as her body hit the floor.

The guard laughed maliciously before slamming the door shut, casting the room back into infinite darkness.

"_W-where am i_?!"

"_Shh_" a voice whispered, and then there was a snap of a match and a pin-prick of light.

The figure pulled the match to his face, illuminating the orange, furry features and a small portion of wall around him.

"_Who..who are you_?" the little girl asked, backing away slightly in fear.

"_The name's crash, crash bandicoot_"

"_Lessa_,_ its nice to see you_" I looked down at the ground, reeling inside. How could this happen? How could they come back?

"You know these people lessa?" Cherry turned to me, curiosity and confusion pasted on his face.

"_You remember us lessa?_" Crash pushed for an answer, nine people's attention fully focused on me.

Goodness, how did people deal with performing live in front of millions of people? Just these nine people were making me squirm wildly. How was i going to get out of this one.

"_Yes..i do know them_" Crash smiled.

"_Perhaps we should introduce ourselves to the rest of them?_" Crash asked the others behind him. Cortex nodded.

"_Yes of course. Well then, i'm Cortex, this is Crash_-" he paused to gesture at the furry male. "_Coco_-" the orange female. "_Nina, my wonderful niece_" the blue girl glared at cortex. "_And last but not least, my assistant, N-gin_" the half robot- half human waved.

Cherry, hoss, junior and ragman; all stared in disbelief at the strange assortment of people standing before them.

"_Lessa, it's been so long_"

"_Yes..it has_"

"_We're not here for this, lessa we have some important news for you; there's a reason why we'd come looking for you_"

"_Yes cortex_?" Cortex looked serious, i wondered what was wrong.

"_It's Marissa_" My whole world seemed to shatter at her name. I couldn't move. "_She's not just out for ruling Egyptica anymore, or your death. She wants to enslave the entire solar system of Egyptica_"

"_W-what_?!" My eyes enlarged massively. The others just looked at the two of us like we'd gone insane.

"_Its true. That's why we're here. We currently live on one of those planets in the solar system, and we have no intention of moving. Besides, it is your destiny to stop her, we want to help you. There's no way you can do this on your own. She's controlling the whole army of darkness with her black magick. She's actually become the queen of darkness_"

Unbelievable, she just wasn't satisfied with Egyptica anymore; she wanted the entire solar system.

"_I see. What do you want me to do_?" Cortex jerked his head towards Crash.

"_We want you to come with us. On the airship. You can live there with us whilst we come up with a plan to defeat her_"

"_Ahh_" So that was it. I was torn in conflict again. This was what i was supposed to be doing, looking for Marissa; but..the others. What about them, if i went i would never see them again.

'_Lessa, you knew it would come to this. They would have had to find out sooner or later. You knew you couldn't stay_' no, no, NO! I love him! Why couldn't i just have a normal life!

'_But you can't lessa. I'm sorry..it's just the way it is_' I knew she was right, but i didn't want to believe it.

How could i leave the only people that loved me.

Wait,

In desperation i turned to the squad behind me.

"_Come with me! Please!_" i begged. I was almost in tears, i expected them to say no. I wouldn't be able to blame them.

I heard cortex gasp behind me.

Cherry closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"_Very well, i'll come with you-_" My breath hitched, could it be true!?

"_But-_" Oh, "_On one condition"_

_"Y-yes?"_

"_I want to know the truth. You must tell me what you are_"

"I-i-"

"_I'm sure i speak for the others too_" Cherry continued. The other three nodded. But..

It seemed i had no choice. Melanie was right, they would have had to know sooner or later. I just wasn't expecting it to be like this.

"_Very well...cortex_?"

"_Sure. Welcome abroad_"


	26. Chapter 26- The calm

Chapter Twenty-Five- The Calm

My heart was filled with dread as the ladder was flung down from the airship shaft. My arms shaked as i climbed, knowing that the others behind me wanted an explanation. I would have to tell them. I would have to face my past, the very thing i hated. They wanted to know what i was, and once i told them; they would hate me. No doubt even cherry would look at me with fear and hate. But i had no choice, i needed them to come with me. It was weak i know, but after everything we had been through together; i couldn't just leave them.

As we set foot onto the hallway of the airship, a table and chairs were already set out. Awaiting the truth. Cortex and N-gin had already left to pilot the ship, and the other three nodded and courteously left. Leaving me alone with the four people who would soon hate me.

None of us said a word as we sat down around the mahogany table. It reminded me of the first time i had met set, the quiet as we took a seat around his desk; waiting for the other would have to say.

Except..except they wouldn't judge me the same. Sure, they would still see me as a monster, but i would be a monster that bothered them. One that they would hate.

_"Well, are you going to tell us or not?"_ Trust hoss to be the first to talk. Perhaps he was still peeved that i hadn't told him the entire truth back when we were at my old home. My stomach flipped and i sighed deeply.

_"Alright then. Here i go"_

_"A long time ago, i was born and lived on planet Egyptica. Egyptica is a planet that reflects the life of ancient Egypt on earth, except it never lost the traditions of gods and goddesses_,_ and continued to keep their magick even when ancient Egypt lost to the islamics._ _Anyway, i was of royal blood. The princess in fact. My mother died when i was young, and my brother died at the young age of eleven due to illness. When i was fifthteen, i was due to be crowned the queen of Egyptica; my father had wanted to retire and believed that i was suitable for ruling the planet. But, i was killed. One of the palace guards daughter's, Marissa. She had a vendetta against me, she believed that it should be her who should rule over Egyptica. So right before i was to be crowned, she murdered me in secret. My father however found out, and had her executed and banished to the spirit realm forever, supposed to be never re-born._

_Afterwards, a prophecy was made, it stated that i would come back to life and rule over Egyptica once more. Of course, Marissa heard of it and somehow escaped from the spirit realm, taking host of someones body. I was re-born, just as the prophecy stated. Born into the harsh world of the earthlings. I spent sixteen years as an outcast, knowing i was not one of them. Not just because they treated me as a freak, but when i was fourteen, i came into my powers as a witch. I could still remember parts of my past life and i was determined to get revenge on Marissa. The prophecy doesn't mean anything to me. Marissa wants to rule over the universe, i don't care. However she wants to kill me, since she sees me as a threat. I want to kill her, because i want my revenge. There is no way she is going to kill me twice"_

I still hadn't told them everything, but i had told them enough. Their faces said it all. All of them were stunned. Cherry.. He wore an expression that i recognized. Fear.. and something else.

Something inside of me snapped, a dam broke and words tumbled angrily from my lips.

"_I know i'm nothing like you! I know i'm nothing but a monster!...i didn't ask for this..i'd give anything to be like you.._" Tears brewed up in my eyes and i ran, i couldn't bear to let them see me cry.

I had no idea where i was running to, just an automatic map of the layout of the airship prevailed in my head and my feet seemed to be taking me to the library.

In the past, it had always been a place of calm. Today it was my fortress of solitude.

It hurt to see her so destructive. She had tears in her eyes as she knocked aside the table and ran, my body too stunned to even move. I wanted to run after her, to comfort her.

Yes, she was different but i guess deep down i'd always known it.

"_Cherry, shouldn't you go after her?_" I looked up to see the nina girl, she watched me with what seemed like disgust. She was right, what was i still doing standing here?

The other three nodded, even hoss.

I stood and looked down the maze of corridors, how would i ever find her? As if she'd read my mind, nina answered my question.

"_She's in the library, straight ahead and turn at the fifth left_"

"_Straight ahead, and turn at the fifth left. Got it_"

I waited until cherry had disappeared down the corridor before i spoke.

"_You know, i always knew she was different_" Hoss and junior turned in their chairs to look at me. Both looked confused.

"_What do you mean_?" Hoss asked.

_"I always knew she was a witch. I was there the day she brought him in. A wounded soldier by the name of brooks, we had lost hope for him, presumed he was dead._

_It was a stormy night. I remember the flash of lightning behind her as she kicked open the door, with brooks in her arms. She was drenched with rain, her hair matted to her face and yet; she just didn't seem to care. Me and the major were sat on the desk, our bottles of whiskey in mid-air. It was if she was oblivious to our presence. She dumped his body on the floor and bent down beside him, placing her hands over him. And then, just when i thought i was hallucinating; white light started to come out from her palms and brooks woke up. He was fully healed, just like that._

_After that, the major pronounced her ability to heal incredibly useful and she assigned to our squad as medic. She was a weapon against the Vietnamese to the major's eyes. That was all we knew about her though. She never once spoke of her past but she aced all the physical and mental tests within days. She was a dream come true to the major_"

"_You mean, all this time..you knew she was a witch_?" hoss exclaimed.

"_Yes, i did_. _And i knew that she was something more than that_"

I sensed him coming before i heard him. Melanie and serquet had both left me for peace. I hoped this wouldn't take long, after all; if serquet didn't return within thirty minutes, i would die.

The library was covered in yellow glow, except for the window under which i sat. It was night outside, yet no moon to light up the window.

He pattered down the circle staircase, gazing in wonder at the towering bookcases, filled to the brim with books. It took him a while to spot me.

"_Lessa.._" I lowered my head, i could not bear to see his eyes. I could see even my legs were shaking. He seemed uncertain but stepped forward regardless. Soon he was kneeling beside me.

"_Lessa.._" he repeated.

"_Come to pity the monster have you_" i said bitterly.

"_Your not a monster. Sure your not like me, but that doesn't make you a monster. A monster is unable to love, and i know that you love me, just as i love you_"

"_Y-you mean, you don't hate me_?" I slowly lifted my head, peeking up at him through my tear-stained eyelashes.

"_Hate? How could i hate you? I love you lessa, that's all there is to it. And that means, that no matter what happens. I'm going to be there for you. This war you're fighting, i'm going to fight it with you; and i'm sure the others agree_" My heart pounded in disbelief. Was i really hearing this?

"_Yes lessa_" he said wrapping his arms around me, hugging me to his warm chest. Tears flew freely down my cheeks, but this time they were of happiness. He still loved me, he really loved me!

"_Oh cherry, i love you_"

"_I know lessa, i know. Shh now_" he brushed a finger across my cheeks, catching my tears.

We stood together, arms still encircled around each other. Looking across the night sky from the window, we dreamed of a new start.

The calm before the storm.


End file.
